Dropping a 4-2 decision Sunday means Braves fans will have to play two tomorrow and not an have anxiety-free Monday.
What a frustrating way to conclude what was supposed to the be the final day of the 2024 regular season! The Braves won seven of eight to put themselves in position to clinch a post-season spot today, but they trailed 3-0 before Charlie Morton even got an out.
The 40-year old Morton gave up a lead-off double to Tommy Pham. Bobby Witt Jr. followed with an infield single on a curveball that was almost in the dirt. And Michael Massey provided all the offense Kansas City would need, belting a 1-2 fastball 390 feet into the chophouse.
Gil Urshela homered in the third to cut the deficit to 3-1 and the Braves had som hope. Morton often struggles with prosperity, however, and gave the run back on a center-cut changeup to Hunter Renfroe. Renfroe hammered the change 399 feet to left field, pushing the lead to 4-1. Ramón Laureano singled home the only other run Atlanta run in the fourth, plating Matt Olson.
As has been the case most of the season, the Braves couldn’t get a hit with runners in scoring position. Today they were 1-for-9.
While Morton struggled in his 4.1 innings of work, the bullpen was lights out. Absolutely stellar! In 5.2 innings of work, the ‘pen allowed just one walk and struck out 11 Royals hitters. Morton has given the Braves all he could since showing up several years ago. It’s now time for AA and Snit to let him ride off into the sunset.
The Braves have announced that Spencer Schwellenbach will start Game 1 tomorrow, while Chris Sale is lined up for Game 2. We would all figure Sale will not be used if Schwelly shoves and the Braves win the first game. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
While I was hoping for an anxiety-free Monday, 10 days ago I figured today would be it for the season. Let’s knock the Mets out by winning two tomorrow!
Will each game be nine innings?
Just a listless, lifeless, pathetic effort today. I’ve given up on this team 17 times already so can’t really expect anything different. We have to pitch a shutout to win, basically. And Arcia has the IQ of a turnip. Let’s go get’em tomorrow. Players will have to bring more energy to the park than they did today.
I don’t understand. Seems like a lot of bad information was going around before the game. On air they said if the season ended in a 3-way tie, there would be no need for the DH. And what’s this about needing to win 2?
It’s not a 3-way tie though. Arizona has 1 more win than us and the Mets.
We just need 1 win. I think the bit about winning 2 was just that it would knock the Mets out. Though if we win game 1, I have to imagine game 2 would feature a large dose of Bryce Elder, Jesse Chavez, and anyone else that won’t be on the playoff roster.
It is a 3 way tie, but the season isn’t over. Both the Mets and Braves have two games to play. If one of them loses 2, they finish 1 behind the Dbacks
This is straight from the mlb site. Only issue is if either team gets swept. My guess is we do a bullpen game if we win the first game.
Both the Braves and Mets need just one win during Monday’s twin bill to secure one of the Wild Card spots. If either team is swept, then the D-backs would advance to the postseason.
The DBacks had to win today to stay alive, and they did. Tomorrow’s games must be played. A split eliminates the DBacks. A sweep eliminates the team that gets swept.
Effing DBacks.
Kudos to the Braves for getting this far. A 7-2 run made it possible.
Two chances to win tomorrow. It’s definitely doable and an exciting day to be a fan.
I’d love to see a sweep just because I enjoy watching Mets fans melt down.
As much as this Monday situation really ain’t great… yup, if you’d presented me this scenario a week ago, I definitely would’ve taken it.
Here’s to a Schwell 1st game from our new Met-killer & Chris Sale on the mound at Petco on Tuesday.
Amen!
Nobody is really talking about how the Padres laid down yesterday against Arizona, basically throwing that game because it was to their extreme advantage to make us play today’s double-header. Keep that in mind if we’re fortunate enough to advance today. We’ll have to time to ponder things on the flight to San Diego…
Gio Urshela starts game one, Pete Alonso starts game two, and we hope to do this for real in the NLCS.
RIP, Dikembe.
Omg no
I do have to say that it is a testament to the team that we could literally have everything go wrong in a single season and still be on the precipice of making the playoffs.
Amen.
Between this damn hurricane damaging almost 20,000 homes in our area and this doubleheader, I think I’ve had enough stress. Gimme a dub in game 1, then throw the scrubbiest scrub to ever scrub, Bryce “Scrub” Elder in game 2.
I’m pretty sure today will end in a split, since the team that wins game 1 has no incentive to pitch anyone good in game 2, and will probably rest as many hitters as possible too. HOWEVER it would be much better to win the first game than the second, so we can save Sale for Tuesday and not overtax the bullpen.
Kinda sucks that the ballpark is so empty. I get it but still sucks for a game like this.
Heck of a first inning by Schwellenbach.
A first-inning walk by Ozzie – I haven’t seen that in a month of Sundays!
Ozuna and Olson have to do something today. Something good.
Spencer looks good. Gotta score. Let’s go, boys!
I am not confident in Arcia with RISP…we can only hope for an upgrade at SS next year. It seems like key situations have fallen to him many times this season with the same result that we just watched again.
Listening to Karl Ravech praise the team’s hard-hit rate and barrel rate as something indicative of a good offense shows that his prep work has involved watching little to none of this team’s work this season.
My kingdom for a hit with a runner in scoring position
OZZIE!!!!!!
Ozzie!!!
Ozzie!!
Honestly would not have had an Oz bomb off a righty on my bingo card today but I’LL TAKE IT!
Urshela and Arcia back-to-back is pretty rough. We basically forfeit 1/3 of our innings.
Urshela hitting .264 as a Brave, but your complaint about the 9-hole hitter has been noted.
In defense of our hitters, our RISP issues are primarily due to them not being very good
That might be the understatement of our lifetime.
This team is going to live and die with their pitching. I know the drop-off from #1 offense to slightly below league-average hurts. But the next month or so is a crapshoot. Embrace the chaos.
I don’t think two runs is enough to win this one. It’s probably all we’re gonna get. Sigh.
Feel the same about 3 runs!
How many would it take for you to feel confortable?
I think 90% of the time you win here with 3 runs and and no more
A lot more than 3. Of course none of us would’ve pulled our starter so there’s that.
Ozzie–offense AND defense!
This is one of Megill’s best performances against us in the last 3 years. We have owned him pretty good. It helps to have a few black holes in the order
Remember all those drives this year that died on the warning track? The homers by Ozzie and Laureano each just made it to the first row. We’ll take it!
I am loving surprise-ace Schwellenbach. Between him, Sale, Fried and Lopez, this team can go all the way.
Remember: this team lost a bunch of games because of the 6-man rotation. That won’t be a thing going forward.
Mike crushed that ball. Darn it.
I hope this is the good Jimenez and not the bad Jimenez. The bad version can pitch us right into a deciding 2nd game.
It’s bad Joe. Look out.
GET. SOMEONE. UP. SNIT. Do your job.
Jiménez is now in the “not to be trusted” pile.
My question was answered. Dude is going to be one of the reasons we don’t make it (if we don’t) with his stinking implosions.
You could argue that his implosion in Arizona earlier this season is the reason why the Braves have to play a game that matters today.
Taking Schwellenbach out is such a Snit thing to do.
Absolutely stupid. But not surprising.
The most Braves thing to do in 2024 is get swept at home and lose 3 in a row when one win makes the playoffs.
Ballgame.
And the Braves will lose Game 2. Book it. They’re all going to swing out of their shoes and get shut out by a parade of Mets flotsam.
This is a Fredi-level collapse.
I actually don’t blame Snit for this. Schwellenbach gave up multiple hard-hit balls to Taylor and was at 94 pitches; he seemed to be hitting a wall. Jimenez and Iglesias were the bullpen aces all year. In my view, this nightmare is squarely on them.
This is the least I’ve cared about the braves in quite a while.
So what if they make it to san Diego, they would probably just get embarrassed.
At least if they get swept today there’s a chance that Snitker is done, I would go for that exchange
This is 2024. You didn’t think it would be easy, did you? So they will have to do it the hard way. But Sale will be on the mound in game 2.
Unless he goes 9 we are f-ed. We suck at bullpen games too, so it isn’t like that is in our wheelhouse. This is the way this season had to go…it is very Fredi like. I only hope that ends the same way too.
This team brings me no joy. I have no idea why I watch. Fuck.
This feels worse than the Conrad game right now.
I don’t want to watch the 2024 edition of this team anymore, so it’s probably for the best.
Just a reminder to the AA is a genius crowd that we spent $16 million combined on Johnson and Jimenez per season
Still feeling pretty confident about Game 2.
Also – Game 1 isn’t over just yet. 3 runs is a lead, but not insurmountable.
Maybe last year 3 runs wasn’t insurmountable, but in 2024 6 runs is at least two games worth of runs, if not three. I agree, it is time for the 2024 version to end and let’s dream big again in 2025.
Holy crap! I love to be wrong, so wrong!!
It’s more fun to believe.
It was indeed not over yet, Jon S.
They’ll walk Harris to get to Ozzie.
I CAN’T BELIEVE IT!!!!! OZHAINO!!!!~!!
This is now to be referred to as the Ozzie game
Yeah, no, see my other post below
No, it’s the bullpen sucks when it matters most game.
This is the never-say-die team you want.
Uh, so who pitches the ninth?
More runs please. We still have to pitch. Lol what a ridiculous roller coaster game.
Wow, I turned it off. I’m such a shitty fan. Ozzie!!
Oooof
Nevermind , this is the “our highly paid bullpen sucks terribly” please end 2024 game
I find it hilarious that snitker didn’t let Bummer do the 9th. He was the only guy to get outs , and he’s a ground ball pitcher.
Ozuna struck out with men on every inning. He’s LVP. Our pen has been cooked for about three weeks. Even more reason to leave it in Schwelly’s hands. Oh well. Thank you Snit for all you’ve done, but it’s time.
It’s time for Snit to retire. He’s the King of No-Clutch. This just wasnt his year.
Not sure why he didn’t leave Bummer in or go to Lee. All the runs came off of righties. I knew it was time to take Schwelly out. I figured if he let anyone get on base or get to 100 pitches, they would take him out. But Taylor had to have a 10-pitch AB to get to him. There was no reason to give the Mets another righty to hit off of. But that was an epic bullpen blowout – at least as bad as Colorado.
We don’t score 7 runs and lose very often, but it sure felt like 3 would not be enough the whole game.
Mets 5/11 with RISP and Braves 2/10. That about sums up our season. So many K’s with RISP. And I’ve started calling Ozuna the Human GIDP. That’s what you get when you hit the ball hard on the ground with a man on first.
Someday Snit will realize that Dylan Lee is good. I bet Bummer would’ve pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, lol.
The swings in this game felt like the Erik Hinske/Brooks Conrad game – low to high to low in such a short time. At least I don’t have to drive home after this one.
I hope he realizes it from the retirement home next year
So they KNEW that Sale wasn’t pitching today this whole time?. LOFingL. Kenny Powers pitched yesterday. What are we doing? Going home for the winter…that’s what we’re doing.
But at least Sale will be rested and ready come April!
It isn’t like the Mets are starting their jv lineup either. No matter what happens, the end of the second game will be a relief. We make it on, or the 2024 season mercifully ends.
Indeed. Fire Snitker.
These guys have pressed all year at the plate, trying to do too much rather than keeping the line moving. I don’t care who the Mets pitch, I fully expect us to look inept because the pressure is all on us and the Mets will be free and loose. Ass-whipping very possible.
What is this, 3 years in a row that we have starting pitchers go down right at the end of the season? WTF
We’ll be fine.
FWIW, krussell:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/live-blogs/braves-vs-mets-live-score-updates-mlb-playoffs-nl-wild-card/jEtxw9Ib3wus/W0ntrZmA7j6t/
So are we reading that as us rolling the dice big-time and trying to set things up to have a puncher’s chance in the WC round? Ballsy if true.
Hopefully there’s more to the story but not having a plan B for Sale is roster malpractice.
And to keep insisting he was going to be used for the “elimination game” when they knew he was hurting … they gaslit their fans. Shame on the Braves.
Snitker’s playing ‘possum. Classic Spy vs. Spy move.
So many cruel ironies –
-We gave Sale extra rest all year, losing games due to a 6-man rotation that we didn’t really have, in order to keep him healthy. And it worked…until the most important game of the season.
-Crap hitting and good pitching all year, so naturally we score 7 and the pitching blows it today.
Ugh
Today is many things. Boring is not one of them.
I live in Toronto and all my friends are frustrated Blue Jays fans who would kill for a day like today.
Well, I woke up Monday afternoon
With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad
So I had one more for dessert
Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt
And I shaved my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day
Nice Kristofferson homage.
yes, and the Braves need to pull this one out to help me make it through the night.
So far so good but we better score some more runs for Holmes.
Olson and Ozuna have to step up now.
Mr. Clutch, Orlando Arcia
Here we go again. Already 1/6 with RISP.
It’s unreal how bad Arcia is with RISP.
No good bullpen options.
More terrible work with RISP. Only one run and two hits in four innings againsto of an exhumed corpse of a starter.
Arcia can keep on walking through the dugout, through the tunnel and all the way back to Milwaukee.
This team will lose and it will richly deserve it.
We’re bad with runners in any position. Arcia makes me irrationally angry. Murphy too.
Five pitches for three at-bats, all outs, in the fifth inning. Absolutely useless.
These guys want the season to end.
Also, fire Seitzer, too.
With this bullpen, you don’t make a defensive sub up only one run.
A pitcher with a 9 ERA may as well be cy young to these guys
Nothing happening in Clutchless City. We’re well on our way to a serious house cleaning.
Again with only using Lee for one out. Like, what the #### man?
Murphy loafing to 2nd with zero situational awareness there. Thank goodness the big bear finally did something.
Well, thank you to Marcell, and Matt – you unbelievable slowpoke.
3-0 lead going into the 8th. Seems like a safe lead to me.
3-0 going to the 8th. What could go wrong?
What are the implications of using Lopez for an inning? I guess he is not available to start until game 3 if we make it to a WC?
He could still go wednesday, I think. It may be that his outing today was the equivalent of throwing between starts. In the olden days starters used to do that, especially in the postseason.
We’ve been saving Luke Jackson for the inevitable conclusion…
That was huge by the Bear.
“ Joe Jiménez replaces Reynaldo López.”
If at first you don’t succeed, I guess
That was a great job by Jimenez. Showed a lot of guts and resilience. I don’t expect you to ever acknowledge that, though.
Honestly, the rain might have been messing up the spin on his pitches, but he has had some serious blow ups this year.
Hopefully Iglesias got fixed as well….
He blows up one day a month. Fortunately it was only one blowup on a day.
Had it all the way.
I don’t trust Raisel, but at this point who do you trust? Thank you Nimmo for maybe the slowest double play you’ll ever hit into.
They’re not overpowering, but this is a scrappy team that can go all the way.
Remember to enjoy these playoff games. They will be a treat!
Never a moment’s doubt!
When you’ve got a wire-to-wire juggernaut like the 2024 Braves, a team with so many expectations from the offseason, and then they just go out there and calmly take care of business night after night, you can begin to take it for granted. When you’ve got a lineup as stacked as this one – with eight All-Stars, plus multiple potential Cy Young contenders – it can be easy to forget just how much work the players have to put in, every day, to be this consistent.
It’s October tomorrow, and we’re still playing baseball!
Indeed. With this team and all of its struggles.
We led for 17 out of 18 innings today. We should have won both games 3-0.
RIP Pete Rose, though a few years of agony before the peace begins would not be unwarranted
No rust going into the playoffs this year; let’s see how that works.
So who starts tomorrow? And the other games in SD? Max will be on regular rest Thursday. Dare he start on three days rest Wednesday. Maybe you can come back with Lopez on Wednesday or Thursday. Bottom line, Chris Sale’s back needs to heal on the flight to SD.
Never in doubt.
Hopefully AJSS or Ian is on the flight just in case.
Fried and Lopez would be on regular rest Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. The big question is game 1. I just saw that they don’t expect Sale to be available in the WC series. So…Lee? Anderson?
Assuming Sale doesn’t heal on the plane. it’s a Johnny Wholestaff start tomorrow. They’ve been watching Anderson and AJSS throw on the side, so why not? Anybody but Elder or Chavez the Elder and I’m thinking: “Might work!”
Word on the street is Ian Anderson gets the start. No idea…just gonna take it all in. We shouldn’t be anywhere close to the playoffs, yet here we stand.
Ian Anderson has been Ian Anderson at AAA, meaning lots of walks. But he is as likely as anyone to effectively wild his way to a good start
Now that was a rollercoaster ride.
I have zero expectations so i’ll just enjoy whatever Braves baseball is left for this season.
To say it’s amazing that they made the playoffs is an understatement. It’s all gravy. And the playoffs are a crap shot. Let’s fuck up a few seasons for the opposition. It would be some poetic justice.
What a roller coaster. Even more, after yesterday, anything else feels like a bonus going forward. But they made it. I am expecting “Against All Odds” for today’s game thread.
The offense is so inconsistent but anything can happen from now on. Go Braves!
The Padres have a great lineup but we’ve played them tough in recent years.
One issue: who’s in the bullpen for today? Jimenez and Raisel are clearly unavailable after both pitched twice yesterday.
When Ian Anderson pitches a Maddux the question won’t arise.
Alternatively, when Bryce Elder pitches a Foltynewicz the question won’t arise.
Thus, the question cannot arise, unless someone has to retire Arraez before sunrise tomorrow.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/can-a-3-year-old-represent-herself-in-immigration-court-this-judge-thinks-so/2016/03/03/5be59a32-db25-11e5-925f-1d10062cc82d_story.html
No Sale, Schwelly, or Holmes on the roster as expected.
No Ian Anderson either. Bryce Elder and AJSS are both on the roster. May be looking at Elder starting tonight. Hopefully going 1 TTO, then doing the same with AJSS. Unfortunately, I saw what Snitker did with Elder in the playoffs last year, so I wouldn’t count on that.
The Padres have been much weaker against LHP than RHP this season, so a big dose of Dylan Lee and Aaron Bummer may be in the works. Also makes it really hurt more that Sale is unavailable. At least Fried is scheduled to pitch Game 2.
The Padres are starting Michael King tonight. Despite me never having heard of him, he has impressive numbers for the season, particularly in the 2nd half. He has a 2.41 ERA over his last 15 starts.
Musgrove is scheduled for Game 2 and Cease is scheduled for Game 3.
Bowman just tweeted that AJSS is starting tonight.
In his last 6 starts for Gwinnett, he had a 3.79 ERA in 35.2 IP, 6 HR, 11 BB, and 41 K. Decent numbers but not outstanding.
Just like I would with Elder, I hope Snitker has a quick hook.
Before the season started I was blasted for saying we would be starting the likes of Bryce Elder again in the playoffs. Can’t remember who was so indignant but it was something like “for crying out loud, what more do you want AA to do???”
I loved the Sale acquisition, and it turned out better than I ever imagined, but the concern was always that we were counting on too many aging and injury-prone pitchers. The problem isn’t necessarily a 2024 offseason problem. It is years of relying on Hamels and Morton type acquisitions.
I don’t know man. Pitchers just break. Strider is only 24. Fried has spent time on the IL the last 2 seasons and is 30. I think it’s just bad luck that ours have broken down at playoff time.
Even without the double-header, I think fighting until the last weekend for a playoff spot meant we couldn’t try to optimize our playoff pitching rotation, not even a little bit. At least we’re not dealing with sitting around for a week. We can use other excuses this year, but not that one. I’m hoping that the whole team might have a devil-may-care mindset and play without tension and self-inflicted pressure. Nobody thinks we’re gonna advance. Nobody will freak out if we lose. The underdog role feels nice.
The funny thing is we threw games away for 2/3 of the season going with a 6 man rotation in order to give extra days of rest to Sale and Lopez so they wouldn’t get hurt and be ready for the playoffs. Ultimately they both got hurt anyway so I hope we never hear of that failed strategy again. It might have worked out better to not punt those games and then give them more rest down the stretch when we had something locked up a week or more ago.
You may be right, but it may be if they had used regular rest they would have been injured sooner and more seriously. No real way to know.
Yeah, I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy with this take. Sale is going to be the Cy Young and the two of them were worth about ten wins above replacement. It was Sale’s best season in seven years and the best season of Lopez’s career.
It’s going to take an awful lot to push me out of my general feeling that the team’s strategy of protecting their arms worked.
That said, I’m perfectly willing to blame the team – and did, a few days ago – for the ineffectiveness of the scrubs they gave those starts to: Bryce Elder, Darius Vines, Dylan Dodd, Allan Winans, a clearly unready Hurston Waldrep and A.J. Smith-Shawver (both of whom got hurt), and so forth.
But after the catastrophic injury to Spencer Strider, the top four remaining starters stayed mostly healthy throughout the year, despite a handful of missed starts for Lopez and Fried. Protecting the starters was the team’s explicit strategy. Given the urgency of the task, it’s hard for me to argue with the results.