Somewhere in the underworld of sports, a pin was pulled out of the Atlanta voodoo doll. Maybe now when fans expect nothing, they will get something so improbable and illogical (in a good way) that even a 64-year-old manager who has spent more than four decades in baseball struggles to put it into perspective.
Advertisem*nt
“This thing is still unraveling and going so fast,” Brian Snitker said. “Every now and then I sit back and wonder how the hell are we doing this?”
It’s not the time to worry about making sense of this. Consider it a sorely needed market correction.
Isn’t this what sports are all about? In a year nobody wants to remember, the Braves are giving Atlanta an October nobody will forget.
At one point, none of the Braves’ top six projected starting pitchers were available. But here they are in the postseason with two series sweeps and five straight wins and four of five wins by shutouts, something that hadn’t been done since 1905, which predates even Snitker, and that’s not easily done.
Imagine: Max Fried, Ian Anderson and Kyle Wright, a starting rotation nobody anticipated or until very recently wanted — three pitchers who had a combined zero postseason starts before nine days ago — just accomplished something that a rotation of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz couldn’t. But they’re only Hall of Famers.
Imagine: The seemingly well-founded narrative being that the Braves would have to win playoff games with their offense, only to see their pitching staff toss zeros in 46 out of 49 innings.
Imagine: a franchise with zero series wins in 21 years winning two straight and four postseason wins in 15 years winning five games in just over a week.
Imagine: Freddie Freeman, praying for mercy three months ago with a 104.5 fever and a case of COVID-19, hoping to just make it to Opening Day, now being eight wins from a World Series title?
All they’ve done is body slam narratives. How to even process all this?
“We’re just kind of living in the moment right now,” Freeman said after Thursday’s 7-0 win over Miami finished off another series sweep, first Cincinnati in the wild-card series, then Miami in the NL Division Series. “This team has been through a lot, me personally, as well. When you lose Mike Soroka in the first two weeks of the season and you lose Ozzie (Albies) for four weeks and you lose Ronald (Acuña Jr.) for a total of two weeks … we had a lot of obstacles to get through to get to this point. But this is all worth it.”
Advertisem*nt
It’s not about the past anymore. This is about the Braves blowing up history and changing their course. They believe they can win the NLCS, even if most would favor the Los Angeles Dodgers or San Diego Padres. They believe they can win a World Series, even though the world would lean on the New York Yankees or Houston Astros. But at this point, having established such a loud presence, why doubt them?
Truth is, they already have accomplished more than what should have been expected. This an Atlanta team that causes opponents humiliation, not the other way around. Now there’s a new look for this city.
“I’m just glad the narrative is changing from (trying to win) a series to getting past the Division Series,” Freeman said. “There’s not much to talk about now. So we’ll just start our own narrative.”
Expect nothing. Get everything?
They’ve won five playoff games by scores of 1-0, 5-0, 9-5, 2-0, 7-0. The aggregate: 24-5. A bubble sports team for the ages.
Fried took over as the ace when Soroka suffered a torn Achilles early. If Fried’s pulse raced, nobody ever knew it. Anderson, just 22 years old and four years out of high school, was called up in late August and posted a 1.95 ERA in six starts. Success from both in the postseason could have been expected, and both provided it.
But Kyle Wright was the wild card. He was demoted to the alternate camp four starts into his season. When he was recalled less than three weeks later, he got hammered by these same Marlins exactly one month ago Thursday for five runs, seven hits and three home runs in four innings. He issued 18 walks in his 19 innings. Then something clicked. He started attacking hitters and throwing strikes. As catcher Tyler Flowers said, “He finally started believing he belonged and he could be successful at this level.”
Advertisem*nt
In Game 3, the Marlins had two baserunners with none out in the first and the bases loaded with two outs in the third. They scored nothing.
“From being a prospect to starting Game 2 of the NLDS — it’s 2020. Nobody expected this kind of stuff,” Freeman said.
Imagine: Travis d’Arnaud, released by the New York Mets a month into the 2019 season, being the Braves’ MVP of this postseason. He has caught all five games and hit .421 (8-for-19) with two homers, two doubles and seven RBIs. In the third inning Thursday, the man swung at a ball so high that it was closer to Greenland than the strike zone. It went for a screaming two-run double off the wall, giving the Braves a 3-0 lead.
“That was like old-school right there, just tomahawking a ball,” Snitker said.
Imagine: A young team that has made something fun and special of this bizarre season, from the “mix it up” hand gestures to each other during rallies to selfies, some mock and some real.
Somebody get Marcell a selfie stick. 😂 pic.twitter.com/3XVN5tudz0
— MLB (@MLB) October 8, 2020
Imagine: Snitker saying he was more exhausted after a 60-game season than he was after so many of 162, given injuries, health protocols, rotation problems, Freeman’s start and the in-out-in-out-in bizarre COVID dance by Nick Markakis.
“This has been a grind,” Snitker said.
But also: “This is pretty special.”
Freeman and Snitker can appreciate this October run more than most, given their long tenures. Freeman said when players and coaches go through their traditional postgame high-fives after wins, “It’s always a hug,” for those two.
“Everything that Snit gets, he deserves,” Freeman said. “He’s a baseball man, he’s a Braves man, he’s been in this organization for so long and deserves all the success that’s coming. It started with (NL) Manager of the Year a couple of years ago, so hopefully, we can cap off his wonderful baseball life with a World Series, hopefully soon.”
Advertisem*nt
The old manager had one more move to make before his night would end. He planned to phone his mentor and close friend, Bobby Cox, who has been living with the after-effects of a stroke since April of 2019.
“I know it’s hard for him (to talk),” Snitker said. “But I talked to him the other day, and he was (practically) jumping through the phone. (Cox’s wife) Pam called and said as soon as the third out was made when we won the wild-card series he wanted to call.”
Another happy October moment: It’s the Braves’ new reality.
(Photo: Michael Starghill / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
