Stronger Than an Injured Bullpen

The Atlanta Braves, as powerful as they have been this season, have had one...increasingly hysterical problem. Nearly every single member of their bullpen has wound up on the DL.

And even worse, their bullpen had been doing pretty well this year. Arodys Vizcaino had taken up the closer position, Shane Carle was working well in middle relief, Max Fried was beginning a move to the rotation...and they all just went down, leaving only AJ Minter and Dan Winkler to...try and hold the fort, while the rest of the team prospered. For a little while, the Braves' front office just hoped the starters would be good enough to not need a ton of relievers.

Thankfully, the trade deadline brought Darren O'Day and Brad Brach from Baltimore, and they've been lights-out ever since arriving in Atlanta. They also brought up Chase Sobotka, who's been steady in middle relief as well. So things are beginning to turn around, and as more relievers begin to hang on, they'll be in the clear.

Despite the bullpen calamity, the Braves wound up tied for first with Philadelphia, and I can see why they have the momentum- some people on this team, like Ronald Acuna, Kevin Gausman and Freddie Freeman, are simply propelling them to the top, regardless of logic. Dansby Swanson's season is definitely an improvement over his 2017, but he's still hanging on and making the best of his improved gameplay. Only Julio Teheran is throwing over a 4.0 ERA in the rotation- Gausman, Anibal Sanchez, Sean Newcomb and Mike Foltynewicz are all way under.

This team isn't perfect, and needs to retool one or two sections of the team, but they're keeping the Phillies on the ropes, and this year, that's not easy to do.

Coming Tomorrow- Meant to post this last week, but a trade got in the way. Here he is, the Indians' oft-injured star.