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BRAVES NEWS
Braves win at Citi Field for fifth straight time
If the Mets end up on the outside looking in when the playoffs start, they’ll probably end up blaming the Braves for it. Atlanta is 9-9 against the Mets this season, and they’ve also won five straight games at Citi Field. Julio Teheran pitched well on the evening, and the offense continued to produce as they picked up five runs on the night. The Mets almost came back, but Jim Johnson was able to right the ship and the Braves ended up winning 5-4.
Yahoo gives postmortem of 2016 Braves season
The Braves have been officially eliminated from the postseason for a while now, but it’s time for media outlets to start giving their take on how the season went. The crew over at Yahoo decided to go over what went right for Atlanta this season, what went wrong, and what to expect for the future.
MLB Trade Rumors looks at Braves’ 2016 bright spots
Meanwhile, the crew over at MLB Trade Rumors went further down the route of what went right for the Braves this season by taking a look at five bright spots for the team this year. They chose to avoid the obvious bright spots of Freddie Freeman and Julio Teheran, and instead focused on guys like Mauricio Cabrera and even minor leaguer Ozzie Albies.
Dansby Swanson is adjusting well to becoming everyday starter
According to David O’Brien of the AJC, the Braves are taking the “kid gloves” off when it comes to handling Dansby Swanson. It may be extremely early in his career, but Swanson is showing that he was ready to make the jump from Double-A to the big leagues. Brian Snitker’s vision for Swanson’s future in the lineup is a nice one, as well.
[Swanson]’s also thrived batting mostly eighth, a spot that some players dislike because of a perceived lack of good pitches they get with the pitcher batting behind them. Not Swanson, who was in the eighth spot Tuesday for the 21st time, the sixth time in eight games and the third consecutive game.
From the eighth spot he was hitting .342 (25-for-73) with four doubles, two homers, 14 RBIs and a .390 OBP and .479 slugging percentage.
“It’s worked, so we’re going to stay with it for now,” Snitker said. “I could visualize him down the road being like a No. 2 hitter, a guy who could spray the ball around, be a good guy to hit behind Ender (Inciarte), be able to handle the bat.”
Braves release loaded instructional league roster
Normally, the instructional leagues don’t get a lot of attention — unless your team has signed Tim Tebow, but that’s another story for another website. However, the roster that the Braves have for this season’s instructional league is worth keeping an eye on because it’s absolutely loaded.
...That’s nine former 1st round picks that will be attending instructs this year for the Braves...which is actually insane if you think about it. Kolby Allard, Ian Anderson, Sean Newcomb, Lucas Sims, Mike Soroka, Touki Toussaint, Joey Wentz, Austin Riley, and Braxton Davidson all occupy the AA ranks or lower in the minors and will be spending time in the Braves’ instructional league in 2016.
MLB NEWS
Red Sox continue to push towards AL East title
The Boston Red Sox have began to put a bit of ground between themselves and their challengers in the AL East. They’ve won six straight games now, and all of those wins have come against AL East opposition. Their latest victory came last night against the Orioles, with Eduardo Rodriguez and David Ortiz leading Boston to victory on the evening.
The Giants are having a horrific second half of the season
The mini-headline above isn’t exactly breaking news, but it’s still astonishing to see the numbers behind just how bad the Giants have been since baseball resumed play following the All-Star break. It’s gotten to the point where it’s actually a historically-bad second half of the season for the Giants. They’re still in the postseason race, but they’re incredibly fortunate that they played as well as they did during the first half, because the second half has been a horror show.