Donaldson, Freeman stall in bids for 40-homer seasons

Freeman won't play again until the weekend series against the Mets in New York, the Braves' final three games of the regular season. He didn't travel with the team to Kansas City for a two-game series that opens Tuesday night, instead remaining in Atlanta to get treatment for a troublesome bone spur in his right elbow.

» MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM: Freeman's decision to sit is concerning

Just three teams in MLB history have had three players with 40 or more home runs in the same season:  the 1973 Braves, 1996 Colorado Rockies and 1997 Rockies. For the 2019 Braves to join that list will require Donaldson and Freeman to break out of recent slumps with a closing power surge.

Donaldson hasn't homered in his past 10 games, dating to Sept. 10. It's his longest homer drought since May and follows a prolific stretch during which he blasted 29 home runs from June 11 through Sept. 9. Donaldson is hitless in his past 18 at-bats, including 0-for-14 on the homestand that ended Sunday.

Freeman hit his 37th and 38th home runs on Sept. 1, but he hasn’t homered since. That’s a stretch of 18 games and 58 at-bats without a home run, his longest such drought of the season. Freeman is 2-for-26 over his past nine games and came out of two games during that stretch because of elbow pain.

“It’s obviously not ideal,” Freeman said Sunday, but he didn’t link the bone spur to his recent slump.

“I still feel all right,” Freeman said. “Everyone deals with injuries. I’ve dealt with this one for a couple of years, but it is frustrating it keeps popping up as quickly as it is right now.

“But I don’t think it’s affecting anything, and hopefully these next four days will make it all go away and I can clear my head and go out there (in New York) and have a nice little series to end it and get ready for the playoffs.”

The Braves achieved their primary goal for the regular season last week: clinching the NL East championship. But having three players with 40 or more homers would be a worthy incidental accomplishment, too.

“I think it’d be cool,” Donaldson said last week.

The 1973 Braves were the first team in MLB history to do it, with Davey Johnson, Darrell Evans and Hank Aaron hitting 43, 41 and 40 home runs, respectively, that season. The 1996 Rockies (Andres Galarraga, Vinny Castilla and Ellis Burks) and 1997 Rockies (Larry Walker, Galarraga and Castilla) matched the feat. All three of those teams played in homer-friendly home stadiums.

Donaldson pointed out that he was on a team that came close to the three-at-40 feat in 2015. He hit 41 home runs, Jose Bautista 40 and Edwin Encarnacion 39 for the Toronto Blue Jays that year.

For the 2019 Braves, the more important issue now, of course, is how Freeman’s elbow is feeling in October.

Heading into the final five games of the Braves’ regular season, a few other milestones remain in reach:

• Acuna, whose 37 stolen bases lead the National League, is three steals short of becoming the fifth player in MLB history with 40 steals and 40 homers in the same season. He has only three steals in his past 15 games, including one in his past eight. 
• Acuna is within four runs scored of tying Dale Murphy's franchise modern-era single-season record of 131 in 1983.
• Freeman leads the NL in RBIs with 121, and Ozzie Albies is one off the league lead in doubles with 42 and four off the league lead in hits with 183.  Max Fried is tied for the league lead in wins with 17.
• If the Braves win four of their final five games, they'll reach the 100-win milestone for the ninth time in franchise history and the first time since 2003.

Three MLB teams have reached 100 wins this season: the Houston Astros, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. The Braves and Minnesota Twins have 96 wins apiece and the Oakland Athletics 94 wins.

“I think that’d be quite an accomplishment,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of winning 100 games. “Hopefully we can.”