Mike Yastrzemski’s three-run home run and Dylan Dodd’s spotless ninth won the Atlanta Braves their seventh NL East crown in nine seasons on Sunday. A year after finishing 10 games below .500, Atlanta has returned to the top of the division. From a fourth-place finish in the NL East last season to holding third place in the National League, the Braves rebounded incredibly. After finishing with a 76-86 record last year, the Braves swept the Houston Astros to clinch the division title. In the wake of their success, MLB analysts dissected how every player contributed to the turnaround.
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“Atlanta Braves, baby! Seventh NL East title in the last nine seasons. I mean, let’s not sleep on the fact that this team was hot garbage last year,” said Jared Carrabis on the Baseball Is Dead podcast.
“What I like about what they’ve done, especially here down the stretch, is you’re picking up the slack in the places that you’re going to need to pick up the slack,” pointed out Dallas Braden, per Baseball Is Dead.
Longtime Braves manager Brian Snitker stepped down last season after the Braves snapped a streak of seven straight playoff appearances. The organization promoted bench coach Walt Weiss to manager. Under the first year manager, the Braves have been dominant throughout the season, never holding a losing record in the past six months.
According to Walt Weiss, the Braves’ success is not solely dependent on the team’s stars, like Ronald Acuna Jr. or Ozzie Albies. Rather, underdog stars like Martin Perez and Yastrzemski stepped up in crucial moments.
“Virtually everyone that got an opportunity stepped up and helped us win games this year. Special group in that way. Very close group,” said Weiss, per Associated Press.
Going into the Spring Training this year, the Braves were hardly expected to come out on top of the NL East. Especially when injuries to Spencer Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider, Hurston Waldrep, and Joey Wentz sidelined them. Furthermore, they also lost Jurickson Profar, their predicted left-fielder/DH, after he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Yet the Braves came out on top of all these setbacks. According to Weiss, those setbacks only created opportunities for others to step up and thrive. Martin Perez is one such example who was the starter in one of the most important games of this season for the Braves.
Martin Perez and the NL East title-clinching game
On Sunday, the Braves swept the Astros to clinch their division title. During their 4-2 win, Perez took the mound for 4.1 innings. Despite allowing 6 hits, Perez gave up only one run to the Astros while issuing a walk.
The southpaw was a non-roster invitee and was designated for assignment on April 12 this year, but went unclaimed after clearing waivers. The Braves recalled Perez later in the month. Across 30 outings, Perez posted a 3.04 ERA with a 9-9 record so far this year.
“We’ve been fighting all year to get to this moment with this group of good guys and good coaches,” Pérez said, per MLB.com. “I mean, everything is good. And we’re not done yet.”
Coming back to Sunday’s game, Ozzie Albies broke open in the top of the sixth with an RBI single to tie the score. On the next at-bat, Yastrzemski (.231 BA) hit the go-ahead three-run home run, giving the Braves a 4-1 lead.
Houston never recovered from the blow Yastrzemski delivered. The Astros scored a run on Yanier Diaz’s solo shot in the bottom of the eighth. But Dylan Dodd (2.31 ERA) struck out the side, not allowing the Astros to threaten them.
With the win, Atlanta secured their 24th division title, equaling the Dodgers for the highest number of titles since the inception of the divisional format in 1969. The Braves have clinched 19 NL East titles. With Sunday’s win, the Braves not only secured their NL East title but also helped the Boston Red Sox clinch a postseason berth. With their magic number down to 1, the Red Sox needed the Astros to lose after Boston lost to the Tampa Bay Rays.
“This is first step of what we want to accomplish,” Mauricio Dubón remarked, per AP. “We are trying to enjoy this as much as we can. It’s a lot of hard work. It’s six months of preparation. I think Walt did a great job of bringing everybody together.”
The Braves secured a postseason berth after defeating the Astros 6-2 in the series opener. The team celebrated their win with beer, sparkling wine, and a team photo wearing championship hats and T-shirts.