The Complete Lack of a 5th Starter
The Braves made a deadline deal to acquire Yonny Chirinos. While I respect Yonny from his days with the Rays, it shows the lack of quality pitching depth in the rotation. They have mowed through guys in that fifth spot. The Braves have had 15 different pitchers start a game for them this season. That's a big number considering three of them have over 20 starts.
Michael Soroka has not been able to regain his All-Star form as quickly as we hoped. Jared Shuster doesn't appear to be quite ready for the bigs. Spring training darling Dylan Dodd had a 7.40 ERA in five starts (sounds about like Elder and Morton's last few starts).
Summary and Conclusion
If Elder and Morton keep falling off and the Braves don't have anyone to plug into fill the gaps, the rotation could end up being way too thin to make a run in the postseason. Remember, the postseason is now a marathon because... money.
The playoffs are too long to predict. They are not designed to get the two best teams in the championship. They are designed to milk as much money as possible out of ad dollars and television contracts. Nobody gives a crap about the best teams getting to the World Series anymore. Look at the Phillies last year... they didn't deserve to be in that spot. The more I talk, the more I am convincing myself that Major League Baseball has really diluted the value of a six-month season.
I apologize for the negativity. I got tired of being so positive all season. This is the opposite of the 2021 season. At the All-Star break, I wrote an article about why the Braves would still win the NL East and the comments eviscerated me for being optimistic. Now that y'all are positive, I figured I'd rain on your parades.
The Braves are having a great year and it's been a ton of fun to watch. No matter what happens, this is a season to be remembered. Enjoy it!
Love you,
-Seth