Braves Briefing: Sweep lands Atlanta atop MLB's power rankings

There are very few things better than a sweep. The Atlanta Braves took care of business against the Kansas City Royals and will look to right the ship with a series in San Diego after dropping three straight to the Padres earlier this season.

Atlanta leads MLB's power rankings

MLB.com's latest power rankings have the Atlanta Braves as the top team in baseball despite not having the best record.

Here's what they said about the decision to put the Braves at one.

The Rays’ winning streak is old news. The cool streaking team now is the Braves, who went 6-0 on the week, sweeping the Reds and the Royals. The Braves currently have three players with an OPS over 1.000: Matt Olson, Ronald Acuña Jr. and, the team’s leader in that category, Sean Murphy, who is getting on base at a .446 clip. They also have a top-10 pitching staff right now. They’ve got another fun series set up to start the week against the Padres in San Diego, but it’s the Padres who should be afraid: The Braves are already rolling.

Other notable teams in the power rankings are the New York Mets at nine, The Padres at 10, Philadelphia at 20, Miami at 23, and the Washington Nationals at 29.

NL East Standings

Team	Record	GM	Action Today
Atlanta	12-4	-	@ Padres
NYM	10-6	2.0	@ Dodgers
Miami	8-8	4.0	Hosts Giants
Philadelphia	6-10	6.0	@ White Sox
Washington	5-11	7.0	Hosts Orioles

We wrote it

Braves Today's Lindsay Crosby took a deep dive into how impressive Sean Murphy has been so far this year.

He's hit a home run and two doubles twice in the last five days, making some history: Austin Riley and Matt Olson (both in 2022) are the only Braves to record two doubles and a home run in a single game twice in the same SEASON since 2010, and Murphy did it in the same week.
If you go back to 2000, the list is even more illustrious: Brian McCann (2009), Marcus Giles (2003), and Chipper Jones (2001 & 2003). Only McCann did it in the same week (July 26th and 30th) like Murphy has.

Check out the whole thing, it's worth it.

Watch Atlanta Braves Highlights from yesterday's game

How to watch

First pitch for the series opener is at 9:40 ET. The game broadcast, with Voice of the Braves Brandon Gaudin, is available inside Braves Country on Bally Sports South, and is available on MLB.TV outside of the broadcast area. 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.