The Atlanta Braves ended their season on a high note by winning 11 of their last 15 games to close it out. They also closed it out on an emotional high as they sent Charlie Morton into retirement in an incredibly
classy way. They also made sure to avoid getting swept by the Pirates in order to ensure that Morton’s final day in the sun as a big leaguer wasn’t in the midst of a losing effort. How much did that “cost” the Braves in the MLB Draft Lottery odds race? Let’s find out.
Royals 9, Athletics 2
Box Score | Savant | Condensed Game
The Braves got no help from the A’s, who got dominated by the Royals to finish off their season. Sacramento didn’t score until the eighth inning but by then, it was already 9-0 as Kansas City had essentially blitzed the A’s out of town at that point. Carter Jensen and Michael Massey only had two RBIs between them but Jensen had three hits and Massey collected four knocks and they were the engine that helped fuel a win for the Royals.
Yankees 3, Orioles 2
Box Score | Savant | Condensed Game
The Braves got no help from the O’s, who took yet another loss to the Yankees to end their season. Perhaps we shouldn’t have had our hopes up for the O’s to take some games from New York at this point — these two teams played each other seven times down the final stretch and Baltimore ended up going 1-6 against the pinstripe machine. On top of that, the Yankees absolutely had to have this one and unlike their crosstown rivals, they held up their end of the bargain in their attempt to take the AL East crown. Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson actually hit back-to-back homers in the fourth inning to give the O’s the lead in this one but the Yankees tied it up the first chance they got. Ben Rice’s second homer of the day was a dramatic dinger that he cracked in the eighth inning that put the Yanks ahead so that they could at least go into the Postseason knowing that they did what they could. Baltimore is probably just happy to be done with the Yankees for the time being.
Blue Jays 13, Rays 4
Box Score | Savant | Condensed Game
The Braves got no help from the Rays, who got obliterated by the Blue Jays to complete their season. The Blue Jays needed to win this one in order to ensure that they’d win the AL East, themselves and they definitely seemed like they were up to the task after they responded to a first-inning run from Tampa Bay with five runs in the bottom of the first — including a grand slam from Alejandro Kirk that sent the ol’ Skydome into orbit. Tampa Bay actually cut that deficit back down to one with a two-RBI single from Jonathan Aranda and another RBI tacked on by former Mississippi State Bulldogs legend Jake Mangum. Still, the Jays were on a mission and another five-run inning in the seventh inning made it clear that Toronto was going for the divisional glory while the Rays were mere bystanders at that point.
There you have it! The Braves won on Sunday while the rest of their remaining contemporaries in the MLB Draft Lottery odds race all “did their job” by losing. With both the Yankees and Blue Jays needing wins in order to decide the AL East race, it was perhaps a bit foolish to hope for either the Rays or Orioles to pull something off. The A’s were the only realistic hope here and even still, they got taken to the woodshed by a Royals team that didn’t have much to play for.
As such, the Braves will now be going into the MLB Draft Lottery with the sixth-best odds at 4.54 percent. It’s definitely a bit of a tumble after it sure seemed like they were a lock for top-5 odds heading into September. However, a 10-game winning streak will tend to do that type of damage to your lottery hopes. Again, I’m not complaining too much since it’s still nice to see my favorite baseball team win baseball games and there’s still no telling what’ll happen when the Lottery actually happens. Still, it appears that the Braves will have to do a bit more wishing and praying than usual when it comes to seeing how that will shake out. Hopefully the odds will actually end up being in their favor and we’ll be able to have our cake and eat it too once the winter rolls around. Let’s see what happens.
