3 Atlanta Braves takeaways from clinch night at SunTrust Park

Step 1 is complete:  the Atlanta Braves have repeated as champs of the NL East.  Now to find out how far they can go from here.

95-60.  Early Vegas projections this season had the Atlanta Braves at somewhere close to the mid-80’s in wins.  One outlet set their over/under on 84.5, in fact.

Of course a lot of that was predicated on other teams overcoming their own adversities this season… and frankly, of all the NL East contenders, the Braves were clearly the only team with the wherewithal (depth, resources, up-and-coming talent) to do so.

No team finishes a season with the same 25 players they start with.  Adjustments must be made on a near-constant basis.  Those who are most successful with these adjustments will often prevail.

That how the Braves have won the East:  the third team in baseball to clinch a division title – just one day after the Yankees did so, and before even the Astros.

But on a red Friday night at STP, they did it up right.  Here’s our takeaways:

3.  Rotation Rethinking?

Mike Foltynewicz was outstanding.  Yes – this was a Giants opponent that is running rather depleted right now, but at 74-80, they really aren’t pushovers… in fact, as recently as August 17th, they were 2 games above .500 and only dipped below the waterline on August 26.

Yet Folty went out and threw like he was a playoff starter… and that might very well be the case if his last start is anything like this one.

8 full innings. Wanna know how many times that’s happened this season from an Atlanta starting pitcher?

Three.

Twice by Mike Soroka (May 20 vs. the Giants, oddly ebough; and June 7 vs. the Marlins).  Now Foltynewicz gets one.

He gave up no hits to anyone in the lineup not named ‘Yastrzemski’… which somehow seems okay.  He struck out 7.  He walked one batter.  9 groundball outs and there was one groundball error behind him.

This was a veteran performance at the right time, for this is the pitcher that we all thought was the emerging ace at this point last season.

It’s still going to be an interesting call for the best-of-5 NLDS as to who gets to start besides Dallas Keuchel and Soroka, but Mike just made that call a lot harder for the coaching staff.

That’s a good thing.

2. Random Acts of Unselfishness

Ronald Acuna was on base … technically 4 times on Friday night.

I say ‘technically’ since on one of those occasions, he was merely trotting around the bases without stopping to visit any of them for more than a step.

He did not attempt a stolen base… leaving him at 37 on the year and 3 short of that historic 40-plateau.

In the 1st inning, he really didn’t have a chance to even get the rhythm of Giants starter Tyler Beede as Ozzie Albies ripped the first pitch he saw up the middle for a single that ended up getting both runners in scoring position.

In the 3rd inning, it was a 1 out double for Acuna with the Braves up 1-0.  Albies took a pitch low, then missed a strike before knocking Acuna in with a single.

There was a 2-pitch opportunity to steal there, but he held his position… and the Braves did get a run without having a chance at an out at third base.

5th inning… a homer with Foltynewicz on with a rare (infield) single of his own.  That was an opposite field power shot that had to make everybody in the dugout smile knowingly… Acuna is clearly getting his groove back at the plate.

But when the 7th inning rolled around and Acuna walked to lead off the inning, the speculation was whether he’d try a steal with a 6-0 lead.  He did not.

Personal milestones – historic ones at that – are rare and should not be overlooked.  But it takes a maturity to set things like that aside to respect your opponent.

We don’t know if Acuna specifically had the Stop Sign raised on him or not.  If so, he honored the wishes of his manager.  If not, he honored an opponent.  In so doing, he also honored a man – Bruce Bochy – who had previously made sure that his celebrating team paid honor to their opposing manager in 2010 – Bobby Cox.

Regardless:  the night wasn’t all about Ronald Acuna.  Given his 2 for 2 night with 2 walks, 3 runs scored and 2 RBI, it certainly could have been.

But on this night, he was a team player.