Atlanta Braves
2024 record: 89-73
Second place NL East
Team ERA: 3.49 (1st in MLB)
Team OPS: .724 (12th in MLB)
What Went Right
The Braves were the odds-on World Series favorite last March, but saw their season go sideways quickly due to a litany of injuries to key players. Yet, many things still broke right for this eventual Wild Card squad.
Mainly, Chris Sale returned to form as a true, front-line ace and will likely win the NL Cy Young award. He threw his most innings (177 2/3) since 2017 – his first year as a Red Sox – while also recording his lowest ERA (2.38) and WHIP (1.01) since 2018. Also, his strikeouts rate climbed above 30% for the first time since 2019. However, he eventually hit a wall when some vague ‘back spasms’ held him out of the final two weeks of the season after his velocity fell sharply in what wound up as his last start of the season on September 19th.
The rest of the Braves’ rotation surprisingly made up one of the best staffs in the league and led them to their unlikely playoff berth.
Reynaldo López pitched as a full-time starter for the first time since 2019 and recorded a 1.99 ERA over 135 2/3 innings pitched.
Max Fried had another strong season and will give Atlanta a lot to think about this winter as he hits free agency.
Spencer Schwellenbach broke out in a huge way with 127 strikeouts (25.4 K%) and a 3.35 ERA across 123 2/3 innings as a rookie after starting the season in High-A.
Even Charlie Morton dragged his 40-year-old self to a league-average ERA over 165 1/3 innings in his up-and-down season as their fifth starter.
The success of this rotation was aided by closer Raisel Iglesias who had one of the best seasons of his career as a 34-year-old. He had a stretch from June 17th to September 15th where he didn’t allow an earned run and finished the year with a 1.95 ERA, 0.74 WHIP, and 34 saves on the year. That’s pure dominance at the back of the bullpen.
Oddly enough, Atlanta’s healthy regulars struggled for much of the year besides for Marcell Ozuna. He was their only hitter with more than 250 plate appearances whose wRC+ was over 120. He fell one homer shy of back-to-back 40 home run seasons, went over 100 RBI, and hit over .300 for the first time since 2017.
Apart from Ozuna, some of the Braves’ parade of veterans put together solid stretches and helped fuel their second half run.
Ramon Laureano had a genuine resurgence and was a key contributor down the stretch. He put together a .296/.327/.505 slash line with 10…