3 takeaways: Atlanta Braves crushed by Nats, but Austin Riley delivers
The Braves are off to a slow start vs its division opponents.
It’s definitely still somewhat early – we haven’t yet reached June on the calendar – but one of the takeaways of this short two-game stint with the Washington Nationals has to be the big picture of the Atlanta Braves’ performance against the National League East.
Keep the following in mind: the Braves had just gone through an impressive run that saw them win 12 out of 16, with most of those victories coming against quality NL opponents.
Yet the Braves followed up that great 2.5 week stretch with back-to-back defeats at the hand of the Nationals, a team that came into the series ten games below .500 and with a run differential of -31.
This continues a somewhat concerning trend (again – it’s only late May) of the Braves’ struggles this season against teams from its own division.
This has to be said for context: in 2018, the year that saw Atlanta take the NL East crown, the Braves feasted against teams from the East, putting together an impressive 49-27 record against those clubs.
Ultimately, that dominance against the division is what separated the Braves from the Phillies (and everyone else) down the stretch to clinch a postseason birth.
Thus far in 15 games versus the East in 2019, Atlanta is 7-8. By comparison, here are the other East teams’ records within the division so far:
- Phillies: 15-9
- Mets: 18-13
- Nationals: 15-15
- Marlins: 9-19
Obviously, a few things are at play here. It’s worth mentioning that the Braves haven’t played nearly the amount of games in the East that the other teams in the division have so far.
However, this early trend is at least worth keeping an eye on: the Braves made hay by dominating the divisional games in 2018. That superiority over the division is less present here in 2019, but there’s still more than half a season of baseball left.