Braves Briefing: Atlanta has one of the best combinations of scoring and run prevention in baseball

There's been a lot of hand-wringing recently in Braves Country about not only the state of the Braves pitching, with Max Fried and Kyle Wright on the IL, but also some slumps and poor offensive performance from Braves regulars in the lineup.

Turns out it's not as bad as we think it is.

When you score every team on runs scored vs runs allowed, Atlanta's in the top quartile in both metrics:

Runs Scored vs. Runs Allowed per game so far this year: pic.twitter.com/FTE5d3kS6x
— The Game Day MLB (@TheGameDayMLB) May 17, 2023

Looking at the chart, teams in the top right quadrant are both good at preventing runs via the pitching staff and good at scoring runs on offense, with the Braves clearly out in front of many teams, including the rest of the division (who all rank bad at one or the other - or both).

The Atlanta Braves are 5th in baseball in runs scored, with 5.30 runs per game. By comparison, the rest of the division comes in below the MLB average of 4.59 runs per game: Philly is at 4.26, New York is 4.22, Washington is 4.00, and Miami is 3.52.

Looking at run prevention, the Braves are 4th in baseball at that, with only 3.86 runs allowed per game. With the MLB average being 4.59, only one other NL East opponent is above average - Washington squeaks in at 4.55. The rest of the division is below average, led by New York at 4.60, Miami at 4.70, and Philly at 4.93.

NL East Standings

Team	Record	GB	Today
Braves	27-16	--	vs Mariners
Marlins	23-21	4.5	@ Giants
Mets	22-23	6.0	vs Guardians
Phillies	20-23	7.0	vs Cubs
Nationals	18-26	9.5	vs Tigers

We Wrote It

Earlier this week, we gave Superlatives after the quarter-mark of the season, and by far the award we got the most feedback about was "Most Disappointing Regular", which we gave to Austin Riley:

It's, unfortunately, Austin Riley. The Braves third baseman has struggled to get going at the plate this season, with a season slashline of .247/.333/.396 and only six homeruns on the season. Struggling to find his power stroke, the slugger is sitting 102 points below his career slugging percentage and, despite playing everyday and hitting 3rd in the lineup for most of this season, has only collected 18 RBIs on the season even though on-base machine Ronald Acuña Jr in two spots in front of him in the lineup.
The issues seem to be related to fastballs, as Riley, who normally crushes four-seamers, is batting only .139 against them in 2023.

Read the Superlatives HERE

What's next?

The Atlanta Braves host the Seattle Mariners in a three-game series starting tonight. First pitch is scheduled for 7:20 ET, and the game broadcast is another Apple TV+ exclusive. The radio call, with Ben Ingram, is available locally on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan or outside the Atlanta market on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network or MLB.com, as well as within Apple TV+.

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