Braves Briefing: Unsurprisingly, the Atlanta Braves are on top of latest MLB Power Rankings

Another week, another edition of MLB's power rankings, another week with the Atlanta Braves at the top of the list.

This week, MLB.com's Paul Casella ranked the Atlanta Braves as the top team in baseball in the latest version of MLB.com's Power Rankings.

Here's what they said about the Braves:

The Braves not only clinched their sixth straight National League East title last week, but they did so on the road against the rival Phillies. It’s possible their postseason run may take them back to Philadelphia -- the city in which their 2022 season ended -- at some point next month. That wasn’t the only milestone for Atlanta last week, as Matt Olson set a franchise record with his 52nd home run. And while Ronald Acuña Jr. has been sidelined with right calf tightness, his injury is not considered serious.

Hard to argue with anyone putting the Braves at one.

NL Wild Card Standings

The Atlanta Braves have won the NL East, and secured a first-round bye but we're closely watching the Wild Card race as Atlanta will play the winner of the Wild Card series pitting the top two wild card finishers in the Divisional Round.

Team	Record	Wild Card Games Back	Action Today
Philadelphia	82-68	+4.0	@ Atlanta
Arizona	79-72	+0.5	Hosts SF
Chi Cubs	78-72	-	Hosts Pittsburgh
Cincinnati	79-73	-	Hosts Minnesota
Miami	78-73	-0.5	Hosts NYM
San Francisco	76-74	-2.0	@ Arizona

We wrote it

Braves Today's Lindsay Crosby took a deep dive into Atlanta's production from their catchers.

Travis d'Arnaud and Sean Murphy, who were so hot early in the year that Atlanta DH'd whoever wasn't catching that day for a short while, haven't been good at the plate since the All-Star Break. Matter of fact, they've been downright BAD.
All-Star starter Sean Murphy finished the first half of the season with a .306 batting average and 17 homers. He's hit only three homers in the second half with a .181 batting average.
Travis d'Arnaud hasn't been any better: He's batting only .175 with 3 homers himself, despite playing in almost as many games (31) as Sean Murphy (34).
Why?
For Travis, it feels like a bit of regression. His BABIP (Batting Average on Balls In Play) was over .300 for the first half, which is hard to sustain for anyone without serious wheels, and it's in fact cratered to only .198 in the 2nd half. He's also walking a lot less, with 14 in the first half of the season and only 3 to this point.

Read the full deep dive here.

What's next?

The Braves will look to even the series with the Phillies when ace Spencer Strider gets the ball. He will face Christopher Sanchez on Bally Sports South and TBS at 7:20 pm ET.

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