OPINION / BRAVES
FRIDAY’S GAME
Marlins at Braves, 7:20 p.m., 680 AM, 93.7 PM
The Braves lead the majors in home runs, total bases, slugging percentage and OPS. They lead the National League in runs, hits, batting average and on-base percentage. This is a big deal.
It’s not as if the Braves haven’t been good before. They’ve won 22 division titles, the most among MLB clubs. They’ve won the World Series twice.
They’ve had some famous hitters in their Atlanta manifestation: Hank Aaron, Rico Carty, Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, Ron Gant, Terry Pendleton, David Justice, Fred McGriff, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Freddie Freeman. Their home from 1966 through 1996 – Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium – was known as the Launching Pad.
Here are the times the Atlanta Braves led the NL in runs – 1966, 1973, 1982, 1983 and 2003. That’s five times over 57 seasons, strike and COVID years included. That’s once since ‘83, which sounds odd given that 20 division titles were taken from 1991 through 2022. But the Braves of that vintage pitched better than they hit. (You knew that already, right?)
Fun fact: The 1995 Series-winning Braves hit .250 as a team; the MLB average was .267.
Another: Over the regular season, those Braves scored 195 runs fewer than Cleveland, their World Series foe. The Braves prevailed in six games. Final score of the final game: 1-0.
The 2003 Braves were a one-off. Going by WAR, their top six players were hitters – and this was a team that included Greg Maddux, albeit the 37-year-old version, and John Smoltz, then a closer. (Those Braves also had Russ Ortiz, who won 21 games despite leading the NL with 102 walks.) The Braves’ big boppers: Marcus Giles, Gary Sheffield, Javy Lopez, A. Jones, C. Jones, Rafael Furcal.
Full disclosure: Yours truly was never big on that team, dubbing them – not entirely kindly – the Bashing Braves. Being light on pitching, they seemed doomed to fail in October. Sure enough, they became the first team since 1908 to lose a postseason series to the Cubs. The Bashing Braves mustered 13 runs over five games versus the team with Kerry Wood and Mark Prior.
The 2003 Braves do stand as a benchmark: That team set Atlanta records for runs (907), hits (1,608), homers (249), batting average (.284) and slugging percentage (.475). All but the batting average are post-1900 franchise records.
The 2023 Braves are hitting .271. Their slugging percentage is .488. They’re on pace to amass 898 runs, 1,505 hits and 299 homers.
The game, as we know, has changed. Almost nobody – nobody except Miami’s Luis Arraez – hits for average. The home run is everything. Only two teams in MLB history have topped 300 homers. The 2019 Twins had 307, the 2019 Yankees 306.
Big fat caveat: The Braves have hit 17 home runs over their past five games. That’s 3.4 per game. The 2019 Twins averaged 1.9. What the Braves are doing isn’t sustainable, which isn’t to say it hasn’t been a wonder to behold. In their first 10 plate appearances Tuesday, they hit five home runs.
Eight of the 2003 Braves – the six listed above, plus Vinny Castilla and Robert Fick – hit 10-plus homers. Seven current Braves have 10, and the season hasn’t hit the halfway mark. Michael Harris has seven. Orlando Arcia, Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Pillar each have six.
This has the makings of the best-hitting Atlanta Braves team ever. (You knew that already, right?) There are, however, 83 games remaining. None will be played in Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park. That said …
Of the everyday Braves, only Marcell Ozuna and Eddie Rosario are 30. This is a collection, lovingly assembled, of gifted guys who should be in their prime. Not one is doing anything beyond belief. Ronald Acuna has gone from baseball’s No. 1 prospect to its best player. Olson has had three seasons of 30-plus homers. Harris was the 2022 rookie of the year. Even Arcia, in 2016, was among MLB’s top 10 prospects.
There’s a chance this bunch will slug its way to a World Series title. Not many teams have done that, though. As scary-good as this lineup is, I’ll feel better when Max Fried gets back.
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