Braves Briefing: Atlanta's officially in the postseason, but the job's not over

When the Atlanta Braves won the 2021 World Series, they were absolutely not the favorites entering that postseason. Entering October with a record of only 88-73, they had the worst record of all playoff entrants in the National League - the two wild cards, the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals, were 106-56 and 90-72, respectively.

But Atlanta rode a hot offense and a shutdown bullpen to victory, defeating the Milwaukee Brewers in the Divisional Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS, and the Houston Astros to capture the title.

Things are a bit different this year: Sitting at 93-49 with 20 games left in the season, Atlanta's got a six game lead for the National League's home-field advantage and a three-game lead over the Baltimore Orioles (90-52) for best record in all of baseball.

Next comes securing the NL East, where Atlanta's "Magic Number" is six. With four games against the 2nd place Philadelphia Phillies this week, Atlanta needs three victories versus Philly to officially clinch their 6th consecutive divisional title, which could come as soon as Tuesday night.

NL East Standings

Team	Record	Games Back	Action Today
Atlanta	93-49	Magic Number = 6	@ PHI x2
Philadelphia	78-64	15.0	vs ATL x2
Miami	74-69	19.5	@ MIL
NY Mets	65-77	28.0	vs ARI
Washington	64-79	29.5	@ PIT

We Wrote It

In yesterday's takeaways, we discussed how luck plays a bigger part in the game than perhaps we like to acknowledge or even realize:

Braves hitters had eleven hard-hit balls (95 mph or greater) off of Pirates starter Luis Ortiz, including eight over 100 mph.
They got two total hits off of those eleven balls, both singles.
Meanwhile, Allan Winans allowed only six hard-hit balls, and four of them were hits, including two doubles and a triple.
Sometimes literally, the bounces don't go your way.

Highlights from Sunday's victory over the Pirates

What's next for the Atlanta Braves?

We're playing two! Atlanta's making up a rain-postponed game from June before tonight's regularly scheduled series opener versus Philadelphia. The make-up is scheduled for 1:05 PM ET, while the nightcap starts at 6:40 PM ET. Both games will be broadcast on Bally Sports South.

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