Secret Stache

 

It should shock no one that the Braves have the best record in the NL right now, but it's still a satisfying enough outcome.

Look, not everything about this team is working, but the things that are do make sense. What, Acuna and Albies are playing well? Who could have predicted that, apart from everyone? Y'know, I wonder if Sean Murphy's a lot better than he ever was in Oakland with a better team around him? What's that? He is?? 

I'm playing up a lot of the faux-surprise, because there's still a lot of great stuff on this team. There's even people who are playing surprisingly well, people like Bryce Elder, Sam Hilliard, Michael Tonkin and Orlando Arcia, who is hitting well again since getting activated. I'm...trying to keep it happy so nothing here about the baffling decision to demote Vaughn Grissom despite him playing well yet keeping Braden Shewmake and his slower progress. But yeah, seeing people succeed on this team that I didn't think would immediately is really good.

At the same times, seeing the people I figured would do well doing well is also pretty affirming, because you sign all these guys to excel and they exceed the expectation. Really, the only people playing below expectation are either injured, like Kyle Wright and Max Fried, or were injured, like Michael Harris. Everybody else is giving you what you expected. Spencer Strider saw what you thought of his rookie year and gave ya some more, with a 4-0 record, a 2.70 ERA and 67 strikeouts through his first 7 starts. Matt Olson already has 11 home runs and 29 RBIs, right on target for him. Acuna's still hitting .357 and is an early MVP favorite [at least I think he is, he's certainly playing like one.]

It's the injuries to the rotation that worry me slightly, because the backups are people like Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster, who aren't the most trustworthy right now. The Braves also have Michael Soroka in the minors, and healthy, but his Gwinnett numbers aren't promising enough for the team to rush him to the majors. We may just go with Dodd and Shuster for those other two rotation spots beside Strider, Morton and Elder, and hopefully that'll work for a bit, but I do worry. I don't think it'll be enough of a stumbling block for the Mets to catch up yet, but you can never be too careful.

I like this Braves team, and I'm glad they're living up to expectations. This is a tough division to do well in, so I sincerely hope the stars keep it up. Strider especially, it's fun to watch him when he's on. Maybe not against the Phillies, but in general.

Coming Tomorrow- The Mets gave him up for Lindor. People will be studying the ramifications of that specific handoff for years.