First, we talk about the race in the NL East between at least the Braves and the Phillies — and perhaps, also, maybe the struggling Mets. Since it’s only Neil and Geoff today, much attention is paid to the Mets’ struggle to play at least as well as their expectations. But even as far as […]
A little over two weeks ago, the National League East race was still in roughly the same state it had been in for most of the season: The New York Mets were leading over the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves, though New York hadn’t truly asserted itself despite its competitors sitting at or below .500. […]
At many points this year, the Atlanta Hawks’ season has seemed to teeter on the brink of destruction. They started out with a sub-.500 record under former coach Lloyd Pierce before switching to Nate McMillan at midseason; they were heavily picked against by the media going into the first round of the playoffs against the […]
Though they squandered a 3-1 lead in last year’s National League Championship Series against the eventual champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the Atlanta Braves had reasons to feel good about their chances going forward. They had the reigning NL MVP, first baseman Freddie Freeman, still under contract for 2021, plus lefty ace Max Fried, up-and-coming pitcher […]
When the Minnesota Twins burst into the playoffs with 101 wins in 2019 — hitting an MLB-record 307 home runs — they were one of baseball’s most pleasant surprises. When they followed that up with the league’s fourth-best record during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, it seemed to announce that Minnesota was here to stay as […]