Sometimes, it’s just good to take all the drama out of the picture as soon as you possibly can. That’s exactly what the Braves did this weekend in Houston, as they made another good memory for themselves at the building formerly known as Minute Maid Park. It started with a nice, bubbly glass of champagne on Friday night following a Postseason-clinching win and it finished with a full-on champagne shower on Sunday evening as this team clinched their seventh division title in nine seasons.
It’s impressive
when you consider that this was in the home ballpark of an Astros squad that is still fighting for their lives in the AL West. Atlanta may have thrown a major wrench in Houston’s pursuit of yet another Postseason berth but at this point, it’s a problem for the Astros and not for the Braves. Instead, the Braves get a chance to enjoy a hard-fought divisional title and now it’s time to look at how they sealed the deal.
Friday, September 18
Braves 6, Astros 2
This was a bad day to be a baseball heading towards the bat of an Atlanta Braves hitter or a seat in the Crawford Boxes, because three big boppers in particular did some serious damage to both during this contest. Three big swings from Michael Harris II, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson ended up making all of the difference in the world as Atlanta got one step closer to clinching the division and officially punched their ticket to the Postseason.
The big star on the mound on this night for Atlanta was none other than Tyler Mahle, who once again went out and tossed another strong ho-hum six innings where the Astros were only able to muster up three hits and a run against Mahle. It really can’t be said enough about how effective Mahle has been since arriving in Atlanta — he has already produced nearly a full point more fWAR as a member of the Braves (1.4) over just eight starts and 49.1 innings pitched than he did in 94.2 innings with the Giants (0.8). The turnaround has been stark and he deserves a ton of credit, just like pitching coach Jeremy Hefner deserves it for helping to unlock whatever Mahle was capable of and Alex Anthopoulos deserves it for having the vision in the first place.
Anyways, Money Mike’s two-run dinger in the fourth inning essentially set the Braves on their way as they never trailed in this game. The Astros got close with an Issac Paredes RBI single in the fourth and then another one from Paredes in the eighth that made it a two-run game but on this night, you weren’t going to beat the Braves with singles. Acuña’s two-run homer in the seventh gave Atlanta some breathing room and then Matt Olson’s 40th bomb of the season brought us to the eventual final score. Atlanta’s Postseason ticket was booked and thanks to the Phillies losing to the Mets, the divisional title was within sight.
Saturday, September 19
Braves 6, Astros 3
Issac Paredes seemed pretty set on dragging the Astros to victory in this one, as he picked up where he left off on Friday night by cracking a solo homer that gave Houston the early lead. He also singled home Jeremy Peña in the third inning to make it a 2-0 lead for Houston. Combine that with Hayden Wesneski keeping Atlanta’s lineup mostly quiet for the 5.1 innings that he was out there, it sure seemed like this was shaping up to be a hard-luck night for the Braves.
However, Wesneski eventually slipped up in that sixth inning as the Braves pushed a run past him and eventually ran him from the game. AJ Blubaugh got the ball in the seventh and he left the game in the same inning and passed the baton to Bryan Abreu to clean up a bases-loaded mess that the Braves created. Atlanta had two outs to play with once Abreu entered the game. Drake Baldwin struck out but Ronald Acuña Jr. did anything but. Abreu tried to sneak a 97-mph heater past Acuña near the heart of the plate and to the delight of a lot of Braves fans in Houston, Acuña didn’t miss it at all.
Mike Yastrzemski added on a solo shot of his own in the eighth inning and just like that, the game had turned significantly and the Braves were suddenly in complete and total control of this contest. Issac Paredes once again attempted to get the Astros back in it after he made it on base with a walk and then proceeded to score in the bottom of the eighth inning but outside of that, the Astros weren’t able to muster up much more offense and Atlanta had slugged their way to a series win.
Sunday, September 20
Braves 4, Astros 2
Thanks to the Phillies getting bopped by the Mets on Saturday night, the magic number was down to just one by the time Sunday rolled around. The bad news is that the Mets didn’t do the Braves another solid by picking up a third-straight win over the Phillies. The good news is that it didn’t matter at all since the Braves took care of business in order to clinch the division right then and there in Houston.
Once again, we all had to wait a bit for the Braves to get something going as they went into the sixth inning down 1-0 after Jose Altuve made some noise with a solo shot in the fourth inning. Once the Braves did get going, however, it was time for another crooked number to go on the scoreboard. Hunter Brown was fantastic for Houston through five innings but once Bryan King entered the game, the Braves jumped all over him. A broken-bat bloop single from Ozzie Albies with two men in scoring position tied the game up at one and then Mike Yastrzemski blew it open with a three-run blast out to the seats in right field to make it 4-1 Braves. Once again, things changed once the bullpen got involved for both teams.
Yainer Diaz cracked a solo shot for the Astros in the eighth inning to cut the lead down to two runs but it was still not enough for Houston to keep up with the Braves, who seemed to be laser-focused on ending the NL East race at their first opportunity. Dylan Dodd was called upon for the ninth inning and he struck out the side in order to finish off the sweep and to start off a champagne party for the Braves in Houston.
Talk about taking care of business! The Braves did exactly what they needed to do and did so against an Astros squad that is currently fighting for their lives in the AL West, themselves. While the Astros still aren’t exactly the most imposing ballclub out there this season, this was still an impressive task on Atlanta’s part to be able to go into Houston and do what they needed to do to finish off the NL East race once and for all.
The good news is that the Braves now have a week to essentially just tune-up for the Postseason without having to fight tooth-and-nail to clinch the division. Technically, the Braves could still catch the Dodgers for the second seed and get a bye but that would require Los Angeles to fall on their face in the last week of the season while the Braves catch fire in serious fashion to end their season. It’s possible but at the same time, I think it’s time to get ready for the Braves to be dealing with however the NL Wild Card race shakes out.
With that being said, it’s hard to not feel confident in any given Wild Card Series — even if none of the options are particularly appealing. Still, it’s extremely important that the Braves have guaranteed that the volatile three-game series will be at home and they should be able to get their rotation set up for that series since they now have a week to get ready for it. As long as there are no injuries between now and then, the Braves are going to be set-up pretty well for the Wild Card Series. It’s still going to be tough but they’ll have the home field advantage and the ability to prepare instead of simply rolling into the Postseason, so it’s definitely different from their dramatic entrance into the Wild Card Series back in 2024.
The team is certainly in an encouraging spot right now. The offense has been hitting for power, with Ronald Acuña Jr. peaking at the right time, Michael Harris II continuing to be consistent, Matt Olson starting to get things back on track and guys like Mike Yastrzemski coming up big as well. The pitching has also been consistent and it’ll definitely be encouraging to see this bullpen (hopefully) get Robert Suarez back at some point before the Postseason so that this relief corps can look even more imposing heading into October. This is a team that looks like they might be peaking at the right time, which would be a nice change of pace from their most recent Postseason appearances.
So yeah, it’s a time to celebrate and get excited if you’re a Braves fan. Winning the division is never the main goal but it’s certainly a lovely goal to achieve. Atlanta’s work really hard for this all season and now they get to reap the benefits of that hard work while we await even more celebrations and titles going forward. We’ll see what happens!
