Photo by Jsayre64, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThe Best Team in Baseball Won on a Backup Catcher's First Walk-Off
The Braves are 36-16 with the best record and best run differential in baseball, and ESPN is saving their premium broadcast slots for the Dodgers and Yankees. The disrespect has a schedule.
Two weeks ago I was 80% sure the Braves were the best team in baseball.
Today it's 93.
Here's the receipt. Down two in the 10th after CJ Abrams tripled home a pair. Dead game. The kind of deficit that ends seasons for teams that aren't built right. The Braves tied it in the bottom of the 10th, then won it in the 11th on a two-out single from Chadwick Tromp -- the backup catcher, in his first career walk-off.
That's the whole point. This team is so deep that a guy most of baseball can't name is delivering walk-off hits in extra innings.
36-16. Best record in baseball. Plus-104 run differential -- nobody else is close. Bryce Elder just posted his eighth quality start with a 1.97 ERA. Olson is an MVP candidate. Albies is hitting .306. Harris hasn't missed a game. Sale's ERA starts with a 1.
And ESPN gave the Dodgers Jackie Robinson Day and the Yankees Memorial Day. The Braves got the Little League Classic.
Last year this team went 76-86 and missed the postseason. They didn't buy a turnaround. They healed into one. Snitker retired, the front office stayed patient, and every broken body came back better. That story should be dominating SportsCenter. Instead it's getting the broadcast equivalent of a Tuesday matinee.
Thirteen points in two weeks. That's not a hot take. That's evidence piling up faster than I can write about it. When your backup catcher is walking off games in the 11th, you're not just winning. You're built different.
The Dodgers have Ohtani. The Yankees have a zip code. The Braves have receipts.
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The Braves are the best team in baseball by every measurable standard and the national media is still writing Dodgers headlines.
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