For the Atlanta Braves, exorcising their recent demons against the Phillies was a top priority heading into the 2024. Despite having the superior roster to Philly in two straight postseasons, the Phillies played their brains out in the playoffs while the Braves came out flat and it showed on the field when the two teams faced off.
Some have blamed the long layoff before the NLDS, others think that the Braves just didn't match up well with the Phillies, and then there are those that think some dark bargain with demonic entities by the Phillies is the cause. Whatever the actual reason, taking care of business against the Phillies in 2024 has very much been at the forefront of the Braves and their fans' minds.
Luckily, that is exactly what has happened this year at least when it has come to the head-to-head matchup. With the Braves' convincing win on Sunday over the Phillies behind another gem from Reynaldo Lopez, Atlanta has now won both of their series against Philadelphia this season and watching Phillies fans backpedal and meltdown has been absolutely delicious.
Braves' domination of the Phillies this year has Philly fans already making excuses that make no sense
There is no denying that the Phillies have looked really good this year as painful as it may be to admit. They have been MLB's best all-around team in 2024 and that is why they have the most wins in baseball at least for now. Before this series with the Braves, Phillies fans were acting like the World Series trophy was already theirs based on their success so far.
Oh how things have changed after losing the series to the Braves. Aside from the usual fan overreactions that are commonplace, the excuses and moving of goal posts has been coming hard and fast from Phillies fans. Take this gem for example.
Hard to win when you’re facing a superteam while injured it’s ight
— McFrosty (@McFrosty86) July 7, 2024
It takes some real...gumption to press send on this post. First, we have an acknowledgment that the Braves are a "superteam" which is nice to see. However, what this suffering Phillies fan fails to mention is that the Braves are also without the reigning NL MVP in Ronald Acuna Jr. as well as their best pitcher in Spencer Strider. Yes, the Phillies are without Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, but you can keep your excuses to yourself given what the Braves have been through. Just take the L with some dignity.
Then we have the goalpost moving. Remember when Phillies fans wouldn't shut up about how great the team was just a few days ago? Well, now some Phillies fans are are actually trying to declare victory in the fact that the Braves didn't sweep them this past weekend. No, seriously that is happening.
Losing a series to a division rival always sucks, but this is why winning game one of this series was so important.
— Alex Carr (@AlexCarrMLB) July 7, 2024
The Phillies lost a single game in the division this weekend — one solitary game. When you’re down three of your best bats, it certainly could’ve been far worse.
Wow, how brave of the Phillies to go into a huge division series with a key rival while possessing a significant division lead and avoiding getting swept! To be fair, the Phillies are used to having to celebrate clearing the lowest of bars despite having one of the league's highest payrolls with little to show for it, so we guess this take is at least understandable. Congrats to Philly for not having a total disaster of a weekend, I guess.
The end result is still the same. The Braves are now 4-2 against the Phillies in 2024 while outscoring them 42-21 and out-homering them 14-5. A sweep would have been nice, but Atlanta did what they needed to do against Philly: win a series and make a statement that this division race is far from over. The only thing that could make this better now is if the Philly faithful started booing the Phillies now that they aren't going quite so well. Based on history, it is only a matter of time.