How do you pick 5? There were so many. See the honorable mentions:

-Charlie Culberson’s walk-off home run against the Mets
-Charlie Culberson crashing into the stands to make a great catch
-Freddie Freeman’s go-ahead home run in Game 6 of the NLDS

Could be plenty more but that’s enough for now. I plan on doing a similar post for the best defensive plays.

#5: Acuna’s First Home Run

The Moment: Acuna’s first home run against Cincinnati off of Homer Bailey, no less.

The Significance: Not that there was much doubt about whether or not Acuna could hit, and hit for big power, he put a charge into his first big league home run. Hitting it 416 feet, he proved he was ready for the Big Show. And boy was he.

#4: Camargo’s Walk-Off Home Run

The Moment: Camargo caps off a comeback at STP with a line-drive HR. I was actually at this game and scored really cheap seats behind home plate.

The Significance: The dramatic line-drive home run that just barely cleared the wall in right capped a comeback in which Anibal Sanchez struggled in his start, but Matt Wisler — a bottom of the organization guy — kept them in the game for the offense to come back. Acuna was also injured at the time, but the Braves kept chipping away, and this was an emotional letdown towards the beginning of the season for the Mets.

#3: The Big Comeback vs. the Marlins

The Moment: Braves score 6 in the 9th to stun the Marlins.

The Significance: This cemented that this was becoming a special, almost miracle season. IWOTM, but this was the best 9th inning comeback I’ve seen years. It was their biggest 9th inning comeback since Brooks Conrads’ grand slam in 2010. This is what happened:

-Dansby Swanson strikes out. (One out)
-Ryan Flaherty walks.
-Ozzie Albies singles. Flaherty to 3rd.
-Ronald Acuna sac fly. Flaherty scores. (Two outs)
-Freddie Freeman infield singles. Albies scores.
-Nick Markakis singles. Freeman scores.
-Tyler Flowers walks.
-Kurt Suzuki singles. Markakis scores.
-Johan Camargo walks.
-Dansby Swanson singles into the corner. Suzuki scores. Ballgame.

#2: Acuna’s Grand Slam

The Moment: Acuna hits a grand slam off Walker Buehler in Game 1 of the NLDS.

The Significance: Sun Trust Park was rocking for its first playoff game in its young history. The stadium was packed. But the young team was struggling to score runs having been shut out in games 1 and 2. But Buehler was struggling with his command, walking Sean Newcomb to score a run, and after going 3-0 against Acuna, he worked the count to 3-2. Acuna was sitting dead red, and launched a fastball into the left-center field seats. I was sitting in the same section, but sadly about 35 rows up. But it was one of the most exciting moments in our playoff history, and you felt at the time that you were going to be watching Acuna do this for a long time.

#1: Markakis Walks Us Off Too

The Moment: Nick Markakis hits a walk-off home run on Opening Day.

The Significance: Why is this #1? Because when you came into the season, you knew we needed a better season from Markakis. We knew we would need some surprise performances. We knew we needed player to play above their ZiPS. So to walk off on the Phillies on Opening Day, on a Nick Markakis home run no less, that started the year off with a bang. You just knew it was going to be a special year after this.

Of course I’m going to give you the Titanic music overlap for this one:

https://twitter.com/TitanicBaseball/status/979512245905485825