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Braves Secure 4th Consecutive NL East Pennant but How Far Can They Go?

By Jeremiah Itula Oct 1, 2021 | 2:20 PM

After sweeping the Philadelphia Phillies, the Braves have secured yet another NL East title are set to to face the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS.

This NL East pennant comes after a struggle to maintain a winning record this season. At the all-star break, the Braves were 44-45 and just lost the phenomenal Ronald Acuna Jr. Things were looking grim, to say the least. However, the organization rebuilt and bolstered the lineup (specifically the outfield) with an incredible trade deadline.

Those acquisitions included Joc Pederson, Jorge Soler, Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall. All of which have provided valuable contributions to this Braves impressive second half run. Soler specifically has stepped as one of the most important and dynamic bats on the roster. Soler is also joined Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuna Jr. as one of the only Braves to hit over 75 homeruns since 2019. There are 11 players in the league total who are in that club.

While the Braves still have some bullpen concerns, Luke Jackson and Will Smith have shown significant improvement, as both have lowered their ERA in these final, vital series. Will Smith specifically has been looking more like the closer Brian Snitker has been telling us about since the break.

There still are a lot of question marks hanging above the head of the Braves–most of which fall into the “attempting to answer the answerable” category but we take a second to look over some of those bigger question marks.

How are things looking against the Brewers?

The Braves split the 2021 season series with the Brewers, 3-3, all of which were decent matchups. Milwaukee did just loose a bullpen arm with Devin Williams taking a page out of the Huascar Ynoa Book of Anger Management, this is a surprising and major loss for the Brewers but not all is lost for them.

The Brewers have a tendency to take their starters into later innings and they still have an impressive bullpen despite the loss of Williams. This includes Josh Hader, who hasn’t exactly been kind to Braves from the bump.

Going into this game, the Braves have three 30+ homer players (Albies, Freeman and Riley) who are the best suited roster to capitalize on the rare mistake the Brewers pitching ensemble may make.

What happens if/when we run into one of those pesky California teams? 

It’s not set in stone that the Dodgers or Giants are going to move forward in the playoffs but it feels very likely. The Dodgers and Giants have been under a microscope all year because of their ferocious battle for NL West supremacy.

However something interesting to consider–and something that raises the stakes of the NL West pennant race–is that the looser will matchup against the scorching hot Cardinals. Even if the Cardinals run feels reminiscent of the Cleveland 22-o run (that resulted in a first round sweep against the Yankees), it’s not the most ideal situation.

If I could pick the NL West team that the Braves could matchup against, I’d pick the Giants over the Dodgers. The Braves have played significantly better against San Francisco while they struggle against the young and dynamic Los Angeles club. However, it would be interesting to watch the two best infields in baseball (ATL and LA) duke it out on a bigger stage. Plus the Braves are quaking for a shot at redemption of Cody Bellinger single handedly thrust a broadsword into the bleeding hearts of Braves fans last year.

I hate to be a downer, but what’s up with Freddie Freeman’s contract? 

Freddie Freeman has repeatedly said that his intention is to spend his entire career with Braves organization. Freeman recently said “it would mean to world” to him to do so.

But despite Freeman’s public pleas, there seems to be a discrepancy between Freeman and the Braves which likely results in him hitting the open market at a free-agent.

That wouldn’t be the end of the world but would certainly put way more pressure on the Braves to get a deal done quickly as Freeman has many suitors that could use his talents.

I highly doubt that the Braves are going to let Freeman walk, and I also doubt that Freeman is going to depart unless the “Gap” reported in contract negotiations earlier in the year is overtly significant. Still, you may want to say a prayer for good measure this off-season.

Be honest, what do you think is going to happen? 

Honestly, the Braves have their work cut out for them moving forward. The Brewers is a great litmus test for Atlanta moving forward through this stacked post season. In a sense, the Brewers are a microcosm of what the Braves struggled with in the beginning of this season and have improved upon in the latter half.

If the Braves can manage to overcome the Brew Crew, I would feel great about them moving forward but only time will reveal that truth.

While I don’t necessarily have a World Series ring on my mind at the end of this run, it is an opportunity to continue those Baby Braves experience in the post-season, perfectly bolstering them for major 2022 season.

But alas here is my prediction, Braves beat the Brewers before loosing to the Dodgers in the second round in a 4-2 series. Dodgers go on to beat the Rays in a re-match of last year. 

All Braves post-season games can be found LIVE on ESPN 95.3. All dates will be posted on twitter, stay tuned @ESPNChattanooga.

 

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