It’s that time of the year again: the MLB Postseason is starting, and the Atlanta Braves are ever-present.
The Braves easily punched their ticket to the postseason as they won their sixth straight NL East title with a win over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Braves finished the regular season with the best record in the MLB, at 104-58.
Now, the focus has shifted from the regular season to the postseason, where the Braves will get a first-round bye due to winning the National League. The LA Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles, and Houston Astros also secured a first-round bye as well.
Statistically, the Atlanta Braves are the most favored team to win the World Series, followed closely by the Dodgers.
What are the Odds?
So besides the Braves’ incredible record, why are they so favored to win the World Series again?
When looking at the Atlanta Braves’ stats over the season, they have better stats than any other team in the league! Atlanta’s win percentage is .642, whereas the average of the other 11 playoff teams is .568.
The Braves also are the leading team for most runs scored. Over this season the Braves managed to rack up a total of 947 runs scored. On the other hand, they finished 11th for runs allowed, with 716.
If the Braves want to go far in the postseason, they will need to find a way to stop the opposition from scoring. The Braves will look to Spencer Strider to have some very good games this postseason with many strikeouts to not allow the opposing team to get many runs. Strider has pitched in 32 games this season and won 20 of them, with a very good win percentage of 80%.
The Atlanta Braves will also be looking to score a lot of runs in order to be successful this postseason. For this, they can rely on Matt Olson and Ronald Acuña Jr.
Olson currently has the most homeruns in the league, with a stunning 54 homers. He also has the most RBIs (Runs batted in) for the Braves this year with 132.
Braves’ star player Acuña Jr. has the best batting average for the Braves this season with his average standing at .335, which is the second best in the league, not far behind Luis Arráez of the Miami Marlins at .354.
Worthy Opponents
So now that we know how the Braves can be successful and who they can count on, who will they be taking on in the postseason?
The answer to that question is currently unknown, but we know it will be the winner of the Phillies/ Marlins Series that is set to start on Oct. 3. I think that the Phillies will win this series and once again face the Braves in the NLDS (National League Divisional Series).
I believe the Braves will win this series by 3-2 games. If the Braves succeed in winning the NLDS, they will move on to the NLCS to play either the Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, or the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Our Prediction
I think no matter who the Braves play, they are too strong of a team to lose any series at the moment.
In my opinion. The Braves will win the NLCS (National League Championship Series), and then go on and play in the World Series where they will win their second World Series in three years. It’s an exciting time to be an Atlanta Braves fan!
