The Atlanta Braves have stockpiled talent over the years, and as a result, they will have one of the deepest teams in baseball in 2020.
We all know it takes more than just the starting nine to win a championship in baseball. It even takes more than the 25 (now 26) on the Opening Day roster. And maybe no team in baseball is better set up than the Atlanta Braves.
For a while now the Los Angeles Dodgers have been the toast of the National League and they’ve somewhat revolutionized the game with the way they mix-and-match their lineups because of their depth.
In the past they’ve done a great job of having starters on their bench. Again, as we know, injuries happen throughout the season and suddenly bench players become starters.
The teams who are the most prepared for that to happen will have the most success throughout a 162-game season.
When it comes to the postseason, that’s a little different story. As the Dodgers have also proven, having that much depth doesn’t always mean a World Series title (although, perhaps they weren’t playing on even ground).
But the Braves have done a really good job the past two seasons of building up their bench.
It became apparent when Atlanta played Los Angeles in the 2018 NLDS that they were outmatched because of the depth of the Dodgers.
They were able to matchup against righties and lefties and pinch-hit with great hitters in the right moment. If I wasn’t so mad because we were losing I probably could have appreciated the brilliance much more.
But after that series it seemed like the Braves made a big effort to improve their depth.
They signed Josh Donaldson in hopes that it would improve the bench in 2019 with Johan Camargo as a superutility player. While that didn’t work out as hoped, it was a definite move towards creating a strong bench.
Guys like Matt Joyce, Charlie Culberson, and Adeiny Hechavarria were huge contributors off the bench last year and are big reasons why the Braves won the division.