2022: You Come At the Kings, You Better Not Miss
Fans didn't imagine Freddie Freeman would join their nemesis, the Los Angeles Dodgers, in the offseason. However, that's exactly what happened and the Braves would now begin a new era with Freeman no longer the face of the franchise.
They instead would make a trade for an equally impressive first baseman from Oakland. Matt Olson was fairly unknown to many baseball fans due to playing on the West Coast for the majority of the season. However, he brought Gold Glove defense and a powerful bat to Atlanta.
Olson was a big part of this team as was Spencer Strider who emerged as a force during this season recording over 200 strikeouts. Charlie Morton also recorded over 200 strikeouts this season. Michael Harris II made his MLB debut and proved to be one of the league's best defenders and his offense wasn't too bad either.
Atlanta showed just how long they were going to be a force to be reckoned with during this season. However, winning the NL East wasn't as easy as everyone thought this year. It provided one of the best memories of this season which was when the Braves and Mets faced off late in the season.
The Braves were down 10.5 games at one point to the Mets in the division but something changed and they just found a way to keep winning and take advantage when the Mets would lose. They fought their way back and when the teams met in early October with a chance to take a lead in the division with just days remaining in the season.
Atlanta dominated New York this series and ended up sweeping the Mets. They absolutely stunned the Mets and beat deGrom, Scherzer, and Bassitt to reduce their magic number to win their 5th consecutive NL East title to 1 game.
The Braves ended up winning the division just days later in Miami. Ronald Acuna Jr. caught the final out to seal the deal for Atlanta. He had caught the final out in 3 of the games in which the Braves clinched the division to this point.
All the Mets had to do was win one game of that series and they would have prevented Atlanta from doing so. Both teams ended up finishing the season with the same amount of wins. Unfortunately, the Braves would suffer an early exit from the playoffs at the hands of the Phillies but this season was a lot of fun regardless.