Atlanta Braves Current Magic Number to Win NL East: 23
Each day that passes, the Atlanta Braves' magic number to win their sixth straight division title goes down. We will take a look at what these numbers can represent. It could be a former player who wore that number or a stat from this historic season.
After burying the Mets 24 games out of the division last night, the Atlanta Braves have cut their magic number to win the NL East to 23.
This number can be found on the back of Michael Harris II’s uniform but it also represents the amount of combined wins between starters Charlie Morton and Bryce Elder in 2023.
For a big part of August, Braves fans seemed to be in a panic over the struggling starting rotation. Unfortunately for Morton and Elder, they hit their rough patch of the season at the same time. With these right-handed hurlers back-to-back in the rotation, it was easy to make their struggles a bigger deal than what they were.
These two starters have a combined record of 23-14 this season with a 3.38 ERA. At the end of the day, they have done their jobs and done their jobs consistently.
Charlie Morton is now 13-10 with a 3.37 ERA that's seventh-lowest among NL qualifiers.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) August 24, 2023
In unison, Morton and Elder have come out of their struggles in a big way. It seems that they may have been sharing secrets with one another and something has clicked. This is exactly what Atlanta wants to see headed down the stretch and into the postseason.
Morton polished off his start last night with his 18th consecutive scoreless inning pitched. Bryce Elder has only allowed 3 hits and 1 earned run in his last 12.1 innings pitched.
With the 16-year veteran and 2nd-year bloomer pitching like this alongside Spencer Strider striking out everyone and Max Fried returning, this Braves rotation is looking really dangerous.
Atlanta now sits 13.5 games up on the second-place Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. At 82-44 as of last night, they have also extended their lead for the best record in all of the MLB to 4 games over the Orioles.
At this point, the Braves are not only trying to secure their sixth consecutive division title but are also eyeing home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.