The Atlanta Braves inched ever closer to clinching the NL East with a win Thursday afternoon over the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Atlanta Braves are stretching out at the finish line and raising their foot for that lest step. It’s right in our face now as that magic number is now 1.
We will have to wait at least 1 more day to uncork the champagne but for now, let’s look at the takeaway’s from the Thursday afternoon game.
3. It’s like the team was waiting on Acuna to get to 40 HR
Ronald Acuna smacked his 40th home run on the season Thursday off of Aaron Nola. Obviously, that means that half his 40-40 chase is complete.
However, the better news for the Braves may be that the offense seemed to pick up after he hit that home run, and hopefully that will allow the Braves to get this offense back going in time for the postseason.
For everyone’s sake involved, it would be nice for Acuna to go ahead and get 3 more stolen bases this weekend and get the chase over with. It seems as if he had been pressing lately with the end of the season near.
Maybe this will allow not only Ronald but the rest of the Braves to take a deep breathe and relax. Focus on their job and get it done.
As we said earlier though, it seemed as if the Braves did, in fact, relax after he hit the bomb and got going. Freddie Freeman, who has been in a “Freddie” slump here over the last few days, seemed to get going in this game as well. If these two can time it up and get hot for the playoffs, along with Nick Markakis coming back healthy and looking good, that may be just what the doctor ordered for this Braves team and lineup.
This all looks like a case of a team following its leadoff hitter…which is obviously Ronald Acuna.