With the series against the Los Angeles Dodgers now in the rearview mirror for the Atlanta Braves, it was a series that perfectly encapsulated the Braves’ 2024 season. Initially, if you had said last Friday that the Braves and Dodgers would split a four-game series, that would have been a positive for Atlanta. Winning the first two games rather convincingly bled into a lack of timely hitting in the last two games, with the feeling of leaving meat on the bone from an offense that went 0-for-10 with RISP in Monday’s finale. Ultimately, they lost one game in the Wild Card standings against the New York Mets.
The Braves are set to begin their final road trip of the 2024 regular season on Tuesday night. They will be taking on the Cincinnati Reds and Miami Marlins in three-game sets. At first glance, you would think that this would give the Braves an edge, clearly ahead of both teams in record and standings. However, this hasn’t been a guarantee of success for the Braves in 2024. While the Mets have to play the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies, the Braves need to take care of the business they haven’t all season: beating teams under .500.
Braves Struggles Against Teams Under .500
The Atlanta Braves are 14-23 this season against the Nationals, White Sox, Rockies, Cardinals, Pirates and Reds.
The 2024 Atlanta Braves are the Kings of missed opportunity.
— Beaneater Buzz (@BeaneaterB) September 17, 2024
The Braves have routinely found themselves in battles with teams that aren’t exactly having great or even good seasons. Atlanta was reminded very recently of that with a sneaky sweep by the Reds on September 9th. With the first two games of that series originally played in July, they played the third game of that series on a make-up day on the 9th. But not much changed from July to September against the Reds, as the Braves went on to lose the third game 1-0. They collected an underwhelming two hits in that game and gave Charlie Morton no support.
Since last season, the Braves have a record of 55-33 against teams with a .500 record or better. You would be led to believe that this would translate to success against weaker teams. This season alone, the Braves are 33-30 against teams under the .500 mark. They are not exactly taking care of business against opponents that they should be, which has led them to where they are now, fighting for their postseason lives.
If Atlanta had been able to pull off just five more wins against these below-average teams, the playoff picture would look substantially different. That would have put the Braves in a tie with the San Diego Padres for the number one Wild Card spot. But when you lose two out of three to the historically bad Chicago White Sox, this is how you end up in the situation Atlanta is in. Still, you have to appreciate greatness in any form from Chicago.
This Road Trip’s Importance
With all this being said, the Braves do have a real opportunity in front of them to potentially gain one or even two games on the Mets. They just need to take care of business. Plain and simple. The Braves are going to avoid the Reds’ best pitchers in this series, so that’s something else going in their favor. Starting next Tuesday, they begin what will more than likely be the most important series of the year against the Mets, who are currently up one game on the Braves. Thankfully for Atlanta, the series will be at home in Truist Park, where they are 42-33 on the year. Taking care of business this week could reshape their playoff destiny. Before that though, Braves fans will need to do something else this week that could make them sick: root for the Philadelphia Phillies to win another series against the Mets.
Photo Credit: © Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
