With their 2-1 win and series sweep of the New York Mets Sunday afternoon, the Atlanta Braves are 20-9 since being swept by the Kansas City Royals on July 24th.
Dallas Keuchel had maybe his best outing yet as a Brave and Josh Donaldson hit two more home runs, as the Atlanta Braves continue to hold a comfortable lead in the NL East, while pushing the Mets further away from the playoffs.
The Braves are an astounding 26-9 against the Mets and the Marlins this season with three more games to end the season at Citi Field.
The starting rotation has been brilliant over the Braves eight-game winning streak, as they have allowed just 15 earned runs total in those games. And the bullpen has an ERA of 0.64 during that stretch.
With reinforcements coming offensively in the next couple of weeks, things are shaping up well.
An odd three-game stretch awaits the Braves as they have a makeup game in Colorado on Monday, before a quick two-game series in Toronto Tuesday and Wednesday.
Now, to the takeaways:
Keuchel beginning to roll
After his quality start against the Marlins earlier in the week, I was cautiously optimistic about Dallas Keuchel the rest of the way.
With his brilliant start against the Mets Sunday, I’m taking the cautious out of it and I see the guy who can be a force in October.
Keuchel has allowed one earned run and10 hits over his past 13 innings, while striking out 14.
J.D. is a bad man
With his two solo home runs Sunday, Josh Donaldson is now up to 32 for the season and has a legit shot to match or pass his career-high of 41, which he hit in his MVP season in 2015.
An interesting question was posed on Twitter to David O’Brien of The Athletic last week about how much of an effort the Atlanta Braves will make to bring Donaldson back and DOB speculated a two-year deal with possibly an option for year three at $50-55 million.
Heck yeah, they should do that.
Donaldson has been such an impact to the lineup and gives Freddie Freeman protection he hasn’t had since the early 2010s. Losing Donaldson would be a massive blow no matter who they would get to replace him.
“It” factor
Count me as one who doesn’t always believe the saying “they have the ‘it’ factor,” but there certainly is something about this team that is more special than any in recent memory.
It doesn’t matter whose number is called in key situations that person steps up. That speaks to the way this team carries itself.
From Alex Anthopoulos down through Brian Snitker in the clubhouse, there is a model of consistency and focus that makes it easy for any newcomer to adjust.