As the calendar has turned to September, here comes the Braves again, ready to spoil what the Mets have done all year. The wide division lead the Mets had on the whole National League East division is no more. The Atlanta Braves have walked them down. As of this minute, the Braves are 1/2 game behind the Mets after briefly tying them on Tuesday.
The World Champs were 23-27 at the end of May after an extra inning lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks. However, they began their run on June 1st with a 14 game win streak and have continued to pile on the wins since.
Whether it’s Austin Riley blasting homers, Dansby Swanson constantly producing or Acuna Jr. doing spectacular Acuna Jr. things, this team keeps chugging out wins. The new blood of William Contreras and Micheal Harris II have definitely given the club a jolt as well. There are good things we can say about a number of other players, especially the pitchers but we’ll stop there for now. Will the Braves be able to make another run through the National League? The Dodgers and Mets will surely have a say in the matter. It will be fun watching the National League play out.
Now let’s talk about those Yankees for a second. I’m not claiming to know a whole lot about them but they sure have struggled since jumping out to lead the league in wins at one point in the season. Other than Aaron Judge, who else is producing runs on that team right now? Giancarlo always seems to be hurt since he joined the team. The team was head and shoulders above the rest of the teams in their division with a 12 game lead and the best team in the AL on July 1st.
But since that time their lead has shrinked in the division from 12 games to 4.5. And they are now 2nd in the American League, from 6.5 games up to now 5.5 games back of the 1st place Houston Astros.
They are a team going in the wrong direction. If this team doesn’t make a run in the playoffs, a deep run, Aaron Boone’s job could be in jeapardy. This writer doesn’t think it should be but I have already heard whispers from Yankees fans that it is.
The post season is a month away. Only then will we know how clutch the Braves and Yankees are.