The Tilt
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Two Catchers Down and the Best Record in Baseball
The Braves are 40-20 with a catching tandem hitting .080 and .169. The contradiction is the most interesting number on the roster.
Eight Strikeouts, Seven Hits, and the Start That Argued with Itself
Spencer Strider struck out eight Reds and gave up seven hits in the same five innings. His pitching line was a debate between two versions of the same pitcher, and the version that allowed contact won the argument.
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Two and Two and Two, and the Average That Hasn't Caught Up
Ronald Acuña Jr. hit two home runs and stole two bases against Cincinnati. His season average is still .246. Both facts are true. Only one of them tells you where this is going.
Braves Haiku of the Day
A story, not a structure
Eight teams, four years, zero rings
The ninth is pitching
— Ellis Magnolia · Braves
Forty-Eighteen and the Ghost of '98
Only one Braves team in Atlanta history started better through 58 games than this one. That team won 106 games and went home in October.
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Thirty-Nine Wins and the Game You Won't Remember
Thirteen hits across seven hitters. Four scoreless bullpen innings. An Acuña home run that traveled 429 feet. The most revealing thing about the Braves' 39th win is that it requires no narrative at all.
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The Deepest Field Since 1967, and the 37-Year-Old at Its Center
Six National League pitchers have sub-2.00 ERAs with 50-plus innings. Chris Sale is building his case in a crowd that hasn't existed in nearly sixty years.
Thirty-Four Days and the Swing That Cleared the Monster
Chris Sale struck out eight at the park where he became an ace. Ronald Acuña Jr. hit his first home run in thirty-four days — a grand slam over the Green Monster that turned a tied rubber match into a 10-2 demolition.
The Braves Are Being Stress-Tested. They Keep Passing.
Fifty-six games in, the Braves have answered every question thrown at them — except the one that matters most. Whether any of this holds when it gets hard.
Tilted Metrics
Braves
Sale's Cy Young Case
TILT ATL
2.01 ERA
Chris Sale leads the best pitching staff in baseball (2.
Chris Sale leads the best pitching staff in baseball (2.93 team ERA, MLB-best) — the arm that's making Atlanta untouchable in June.
Braves
Best Record in Baseball
TILT ATL
41-20 (.672)
First in the NL East by 10 games, +110 run differential — the Braves are lapping the field with a home stand against Toronto and Pittsburgh starting now.
First in the NL East by 10 games, +110 run differential — the Braves are lapping the field with a home stand against Toronto and Pittsburgh starting now.
Braves
First-to-40 Curse Watch
TILT ATL
41 wins by June 3
No team that led MLB at 40 wins this early has won the World Series in 12 years — the national narrative Atlanta has to carry into summer.
No team that led MLB at 40 wins this early has won the World Series in 12 years — the national narrative Atlanta has to carry into summer.
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