The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Snitker, Braves thinking of October
They’ve played almost 4½ months. If they were going to fade, they would have by now. Yes, they’ve hit rough patches, and yes, they’re again strapped for starting pitchers, but still: The 2018 Braves, who weren’t supposed to be this good, are indeed this good.
Who (besides yours truly) thinks so? Their manager. Here’s what Brian Snitker said, speaking Friday night at SunTrust Park:
“There have been a couple of stretches where we’re like, ‘If we can stay relevant after this.’ More than any one significant thing, because it seems like there were so many of them over the course of the year: The late-inning comebacks, the walk-offs, things like that. What stands out to me is there were a couple of stretches where we’re going into a tough road trip, and we’re thinking, ‘Can you survive this?’ and we’ll know what we’re made of. And we did.”
Then: “Right before the deadline, we go on the road, and it’s like, ‘Stay relevant in this thing, and we’ll see what can happen,’ and we did.”
Then: “We’ve passed a lot of tests over the course of the summer — with schedule, and with need-to-win (games). We’ve done that.”
Of all the stories this happy season — Ozzie Albies as big bopper, Ronald Acuna as real deal, Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb as legit starters, Nick Markakis as reborn, Charlie Culberson as Ben Zobrist if not Babe Ruth — the bigger story of moments seized and fears allayed and relevance
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If the Braves weren’t sure what upper management thought of them, they were sent a powerful message at the deadline. In four deft deals, general manager Alex Anthopoulos hooked a power bat, a starting pitcher, a lefty reliever and a righty reliever. These were exactly the sort of midcourse corrections players expect from their GM, and it served to buoy team spirit even more. Everybody here is pulling in the same direction. Everybody here is thinking about October.
Even — and maybe especially — the manager. Snitker is 62, a baseball lifer. He’s not given to flights of fancy, and he’s not expecting his team, from here on, to do anything less than it has been doing.
“We’re staying relevant in this thing, and (we’re) in games,” he said. “I’m looking at us like it’s real. It hasn’t been a fluke for a long time in my eyes. We’re sitting here in the middle of August, and we’re right there in the hunt. It’s there for us to take.”
It is. And, given Anthopoulos’ refusal to sell anything of potential use, it should be again next season, and the next and the next. But that’s not to suggest that these Braves have done all they need to do. If these 4½ months have taught us anything, it’s that these guys can deliver more and better. And they’ve positioned themselves, as the sainted Ernie Johnson Sr. would say, to give us a finish.