The Atlanta Braves came into the weekend essentially needing a sweep of the New York Mets to win the NL East, and that’s exactly what they got.
If you go back two months ago after the Atlanta Braves lost four-of-five in New York, that very easily could have been the defining moment in the NL East race in 2022.
The Braves found themselves 6.5 games back in the division and the Mets clearly looked like the better team and were up 8-4 in the season series.
Instead of packing it up and surrendering, the Braves went 36-13 after that series at Citi Field ending with the sweep of their division rivals on Friday night.
Over those two months, Atlanta went from 6.5 games back in the division to 2 games up with just 3 games left to play.
And leading the way over the weekend were Matt Olson and Dansby Swanson who each homered in all three games after really struggling in September — especially Olson.
The Braves went up against Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, and Chris Bassitt in the three biggest games of the year and came out victorious in all three.
Not only that, but they came from behind in every game.
This team shows their resilience time and time again showing they have what it takes to win another World Series.
But perhaps the real hero of the weekend was the bullpen.
No Braves started pitched into the sixth inning, leaving a lot of work for the bullpen.
They answered the call allowing just 1 earned run on 7 hits and 2 walks over 12.2 innings.
Raisel Iglesias and Kenley Jansen both pitched in all three games without allowing a run; although, Jansen made things quite interesting on Friday night.
While the weekend was a lot of fun, the work is not over for Atlanta. Their magic number is one, which means they need one win against the Marlins this weekend or a loss by the Mts to win the NL East for the fifth straight year.