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Ronald Acuña Jr. Has Gotten Even Better. So Why Are The Braves Worse?

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 […]

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This Rotation Isn’t ‘Vintage Braves,’ But Atlanta Is Making It Work

It may have been in Major League Baseball’s new best-of-three wild-card round, but the Atlanta Braves’ series victory over the Cincinnati Reds last week was a long time coming. Going into these playoffs, Atlanta hadn’t won a postseason series since defeating the Houston Astros in the 2001 National League Division Series. The 19 intervening years […]

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Baseball’s 20-Something Sluggers Are Saving The Sport

If you believe many media stories about the present (and future) of baseball, the sport is doomed. The current crop of young players are ruining the game: They aren’t famous enough, strike out too much and hit too many home runs. Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio, indeed. This is, of course, mostly just nostalgia-tinted […]

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Turns Out The NL East Didn’t Have Four Good Teams

One of the most entertaining series in baseball last weekend pitted the Atlanta Braves against the Philadelphia Phillies, with the teams splitting a pair of late-game comeback wins before the Braves ran away with a 15-1 laugher in Sunday’s rubber match. We should get used to this. One of these two clubs is probably going […]

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Ronald Acuna Is Quietly Getting Better. And That’s Scary.

When the Los Angeles Dodgers take on the Atlanta Braves for a three-game series starting tonight, all eyes will be on a precocious young star who’s taken his game to the next level early this season. We are, of course, talking about L.A.’s Cody Bellinger … right? Certainly Bellinger has been great so far, and […]

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