Travis d'Arnaud reacts to Braves clinching NL East
N.L. East Champions: The Braves win tonight, coupled with Philadelphia’s loss in Game 1 of a doubleheader with Washington, clinched their third consecutive National League East title…It is the Braves’ 20 division title in franchise history, the most in major league history…The Yankees, who are currently in second place in the A.L. East, have 19…The Braves won a major league-record 14 consecutive division titles from 1991-05…They also won the N.L. West in 1969 and 1982, and the East in 2013 before this current run.
Home Runs I: The Braves hit five home runs tonight, and now have 98 for the season, second most in the major leagues…The Dodgers entered play today with 100…Tonight was Atlanta’s 55 game…This is easily the most home runs the Braves have ever hit in their first 55 games of a season…The 2003 club held the previous record, hitting 84…Last year’s club had 75 home runs through their first 55 games…The 2019 club hit a franchise record 249 home runs…Extrapolated over a full 162-game season, this Braves team would be on pace to hit 289 home runs.
Home Runs II: This was Atlanta’s third game this year with five or more home runs…Only four other teams – the White Sox (5), the Dodgers (3), the Padres (3), the Yankees (3) – have as many such games this year…The Braves had four games last season with five or more home runs…In fact, this was the Braves’ 26 game this season hitting multiple homers…They are 20-6 (.769) in those games.
Marcell Ozuna I: With his first career game of at least four hits and five RBI, Marcell Ozuna took over the National League lead in home runs (17) and RBI (53)…It was his 11 career multi-homer game, including his third this season, and his seventh career game with at least five RBI…The last Braves player to lead the N.L. in either of those categories was Andruw Jones, who paced the circuit in both in 2005…Jones hit a franchise-record 51 home runs and drove in 128…Over a full 162-game season, Ozuna’s current totals would pace to 50 homers and 156 RBI.
Marcell Ozuna II: Marcell Ozuna’s eighth-inning home run traveled a projected 450 feet, while his first-inning blast went 434 feet…He came into play today leading the major leagues in average home run distance, at 425 feet…The Braves have eight home runs of at least 450 feet this season, and Ozuna has three of them (also: 469 feet on 8/26 and 453 feet on 9/6).
Albies’ 60 Homer: Playing in his 399 career game, Ozzie Albies hit his 60 career home run…Only 13 middle infielders in modern baseball history have reached that milestone in their first 400 career games…Five of those players are currently active (Story, DeJong, Correa, Torres and Odor)…Among the other eight players, three are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame – Ernie Banks, Joe Gordon and Cal Ripken Jr…Story had the most, hitting 88 home runs in his first 400 career games.
Ozzie Albies: Had three hits tonight, and is now hitting .396/.418/.736 since being activated off the injured list on 9/9…In those 13 games, Albies has seven multi-hit games…Since his first full season in 2018, Albies has 34 games with three or more hits…Only Charlie Blackmon (40) and Freddie Freeman (35) have more…The Braves are averaging 7.7 runs per game since Albies was activated.
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