On Tuesday, August 8th, a bases-loaded walk served as a landmark achievement for Matt Olson, as he became the first player in baseball this season to reach the 100 RBI mark, doing so before the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and the rest of the league's hottest hitters reached the 90 mark on the year.
This marks the third season in a row that Olson has plated over 100 runners, with 2021 seeing him send a career-best 111 Oakland Athletics home, followed by 103 in 2022 with his new hometown team.
Through 128 games this season, Olson has already set a new career-best, knocking number 112 on Saturday afternoon in San Fransisco. With 34 games left this campaign, it would come with little surprise if he ended up claiming the franchise record for RBI in a season, which is currently held by Eddie Mathews with 135 RBI hit in 1953.
Matt Olson's two RBIs today raises his MLB-leading total to 112. For some perspective, first-ballot Hall of Famer's career high was 111, which he did twice. Chipper had nine 100-RBI seasons.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) August 26, 2023
With the consistent stream of success in 2023, coupled with the potency within the Braves bats, it could be expected to see the likes of Ozzie Albies (90), Austin Riley (77), and Ronald Acuña Jr (74) standing alongside Olson this season's end with 100+ RBI on the year, which would be an incredible feat within itself; the last time the Braves had four or more players finish with 100+ RBI came in 2003, which ended with Gary Sheffield (132), Andruw Jones (116), Javy Lopez (109), and Hall of Famer Chipper Jones (106).
When observing a wildly succesful and borderline historic season, especially for a club that personifies family in your heart, it's only natural to get nostalgic, often comparing current success with past success, whether we witnessed it ourselves or not.
The rich, deep-rooted history that goes hand-in-hand with our beautiful, challenging game allows us to connect with countless stories told from the past, bringing along with it a stock of moments and memories that are looked at with an immovable layer of joy that never runs dry; if anything, the flow of nostalgia presses on with vigor.
Simply put, it's very fun to look back on the times when our teams made us feel alive, especially when the present is aligning with the past in such a way.
Well, if you haven't noticed, our Braves are doing very well; in a way we haven't seen in quite some time, either. The sole reaching of the 100 mark for Matt Olson is but another tick on a seemingly never-ending list of accolades and broken records for 2023; right now, it's a very good time to be a Braves fan.
So, with our dazzling level of success, let's relax a bit, entertain the part of our brain that houses the nostalgia receptors, and look back at some other Braves who reached the 100 RBI mark in a season.