This moment has been a long time coming.
It’s here now.
The excitement for another Braves postseason could be heard and felt well before it officially was to begin. Truist Park was buzzing with activity Saturday some six hours before first pitch. The line to enter the Braves Clubhouse Store at The Battery Atlanta stretched on with an estimated wait time of at least a half hour. Beverage businesses did a brisk business. Music blared through The Battery as Braves fans, along with a few people confident enough to dress in Phillies garb, mingled around in anticipation.
There was good reason. For more than six months, the Braves and their fans have been pushing toward the MLB playoffs. From the very start of the season, the anticipation has built as the Braves set one record after another in what has been a historic season.
Do you know how many days the Braves were not in first place?
One. That’s it.
The date was April 2. In the season’s very first week, the Braves lost to the Nationals to fall to 2-1. The Mets won to improve to 3-1. The next day, the Braves won and the Mets lost. That was it. The Braves spent the rest of the season climbing to 104 wins, tied for the second-most in franchise history, and the best record in baseball. The Mets, well, they’ll always have April 2. In all, the Braves spent 185 days in first place.
Now, it’s another National League East foe that stands in the Braves’ way, and they aim to finish what they started. The Braves played host to the Phillies in Game 1 of their best-of-five Division Series on Saturday. All that was accomplished in a record-breaking season was on the line. It was the Phillies who knocked the Braves out of the playoffs last season in the defense of their 2021 World Series championship. With all the momentum of a World Series title, the Braves’ postseason lasted only four games.
The Braves and their fans have reason to be confident, coming off a historic season and winning a sixth consecutive division title. They have the top NL MVP candidate in Ronald Acuña Jr. He hit more than 40 home runs and stole more than 70 bases. No one in history had ever accomplished that. Matt Olson set franchise records and led the majors in home runs and RBIs this season. This is a franchise that boasts the likes of Henry Aaron, Eddie Mathews and Chipper Jones. The team tied the all-time major league record for home runs in a season. They had four players with more than 35 home runs. They had five players with more than 95 RBIs. They had eight players selected to the All-Star game. That’s a sampling of a record-setting regular season.
But this is the playoffs. The Braves know of excelling in the regular season and falling short in the postseason. One World Series championship after 14 consecutive division titles from 1991-2005 still is in the back of the minds of many fans, even during this current run of great success. So, there was a bit of nervous energy around the ballpark in anticipation of another playoff run.
“It’s a unique feeling going into the postseason knowing we should win based on the season,” said Brian Kearney, who came with brothers Kenny and Dean Johnson from Greenville, South Carolina. “It’s not a good feeling. It’s not like ‘21 when we had nothing to lose. … Now we have all the expectations on us.”
The Phillies and their fans will tout the raucous crowds at Citizens Bank Park as an advantage. The Braves have home-field advantage in this series. If a deciding Game 5 is necessary it will be back at Truist Park.
As Braves manager Brian Snitker has said on many occasions, including after winning the 2021 World Series, “Braves Country is real.”
According to the Braves, they drew a record attendance of 3,191,505 fans at Truist Park this season, the most for the stadium since it opened in 2017. The previous mark of 3,129,931 was set last year. The Braves sold out 54 of their 81 home games, that’s 67% of this season’s schedule.
“I think it definitely plays to (have) home-field advantage,” third baseman Austin Riley said. “Especially us at home. Our fans are very passionate, and it gets loud, they get into it. I definitely think it plays.”
Brent and Jenna Pierce, who drove six hours from Jackson, Tennessee, for the game, didn’t want to hear about what Phillies fans think.
“They don’t compare to our fans,” Jenna said.
Jenny DeMatteo, Silvia Wagner and Sissy Whalen drove 14 hours from Philadelphia and arrived in plenty of time to soak in the atmosphere. They stood out. DeMatteo wore a red Phillies jersey and bucket hat. Wagner wore a foam Liberty Bell hat. Whalen wore a Phillie Phantic hat. They plan to wear Eagles green on the ride home Sunday.
While the three were confident that the Phillies again would dash the Braves’ hopes, they complimented the atmosphere.
“Everyone here has been so nice,” Wagner said.
With heavy anticipation, this season has been building toward the postseason. It’s here now.
