No, The Braves Aren't Cheating

 

The good news is that the Braves put up 13 points against the Diamondbacks last night. The bad news is that the D-Backs put up 16. 

Since June, honestly, the Braves have been virtually unstoppable, commanding the league's attention with the best lineup in baseball, a guy that already has 30 home runs, and the obvious MVP. However, they've also lost 4 of their last 5 games. Some off these games are against contenders, such as the D-Backs and Rays, but losing 2 to the White Sox? Maybe you can blame the post-break cobwebs, but...are the Braves headed for a downturn?

Well, the people who think this is a strategically placed downturn to get the league's eyes off the Braves are also the same people who think the Braves are cheating, and they're not. There's some guy who's convinced that the team is employing the 'guy with coughing woman in the audience to give the answers on Millionaire' strategy to point out breaking balls with a woman's scream. The trashcan thing at least was uncovered because it was out of the ordinary. Now the smoking gun for the Braves is that you have to believe that the Braves don't normally have screaming fans. To hear these people out, yes, it wouldn't be noticeable if one fan in a field of thousands in that fanbase screamed consistently. But like...I think you're reaching. You miss spy camera systems and trashcan codes and you want something like that, and also the Braves have won so many games so obviously they must be cheating.

The Braves aren't cheating. A.J. Hinch I can see bending some rules to get ahead. Brian Snitker is too much of an old school sort to really challenge what's legal. It's also why the Astros haven't cheated as much since bringing on Dusty Baker, that guy's way too 'this is the way things have to be' to cheat. Also, I think the Braves' lineup is just...really damn good this year, because so many of these seasons, like Arcia's, Albies's, Riley's, Olson's, Acuna's I suppose, seem like the culminations of years of trying to thread the needle ever so carefully. Albies has been building his star for so long, now he's looking at a 30+ homer season. Riley's had two strong campaigns in a row, now he's a varied, consistent piece of the larger team. The rotation built and built so that eventually Michael Soroka, Max Fried, Spencer Strider and Bryce Elder could pitch together and impress people. 

The Braves were always good, but instead of losing too many of their pieces to free agency, they kept building and extending people so that they'd continue their primes in Atlanta, leading to the monolithic team we have now. They're not cheating, like the 2017 Astros. They're just reaping the benefits of a really well-run organization...like the 2022 Astros.

I think the Braves may drop a slight bit in the next week or so, just from how things have gone to this point, but they're still looking like a top seed to me, and I still think it's gonna take some wild momentum to stop them from going all the way this year.

Coming Tomorrow- A very impressive closer for a very mediocre competitor.