The disappointment of the Atlanta Braves getting a few runs away from their first World Series in 21 years will linger. They obviously haven’t gotten that close in a long time, and while we doubt it will take that long again, it’s still painful to know the Braves are finished for 2020.
How can you complain, though, considering what this team went through? If we had said, as we watched the starting rotation crumble one pitcher at a time throughout the summer, that they would play the best team in baseball to a seven-game NLCS, we would have taken that every day of the week.
There is a feeling of inevitability for this Braves team that they are going to win it all. The last time many of us had this feeling was in the early-1990s when the Braves lost two straight World Series and then a NLCS in 1993. It stung, but you knew their time was coming. It did in 1995.
And after watching more young talent show potential the last few months, you know it’s true again. The Braves have an excellent chance at getting deep into the playoffs once again and winning the next time around.
Fans can’t stop drooling over the starting rotation for next year. Injured starter Mike Soroka was so pumped up about 2021 that he met the team in the clubhouse Monday when they arrived back from Texas. The team will have to control him, but Soroka will be ready on or near Opening Day.
It’s easy to wonder what the Braves could have done with Soroka in the playoffs – having just one more good starting pitcher. But add Soroka to Max Fried, Ian Anderson and perhaps Kyle Wright or Bryse Wilson next year and you’ve got the makings of a great rotation.
You can certainly count on general manager Alex Anthopoulos bringing in a veteran starter to the mix. The money will be available, and while top free agent Trevor Bauer may be a pipe dream, it’s worth dreaming about.
Add a solid veteran (one that’s not hurt like Cole Hamels was) to this group of young pitchers and look out. The Braves could go from having a rotation in shambles to one of the best in baseball.
Everybody wants the Braves to bring back Marcell Ozuna, and again, the money should be there to make that happen. We’re not sure what the ownership will allow Anthopoulos to spend, but how could they pull back after the team got so close? That wouldn’t make sense.
It’s difficult to project to what extent fans will be allowed in the stands next season, so you hope Liberty Media doesn’t use that as an excuse. But over half of this year’s payroll could come off the books, which could allow Anthopoulos to pursue a big-time starting pitcher (Bauer?) and bring Ozuna back.
You can go ahead and pencil Cristian Pache in the lineup at center field. He showed enough to give the Braves confidence he will be good to go in 2020. These other young kids, like Austin Riley, will have another year under their belt. And you can expect some extra baserunning drills in spring training for Riley and Dansby Swanson after what happened in game seven.
But even that is hard to gripe about. Yes, it was a horrible play that possibly cost the Braves a chance at going to the World Series. If those two runners had scored instead of running into an out, the score would have been 5-2 Atlanta. Yet you’ve just got to remember the Braves had no business there in the first place.
Think about it. Soroka got hurt. Hamels stayed hurt. Both Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb were so bad they stayed at the alternate camp. Felix Hernandez opted out. Touki Toussaint was inconsistent. The rotation literally fell apart with the exception of Fried.
Anderson saved them with a tremendous rookie showing and an historic postseason run. Plus, the emergence of Wright and Wilson must give the Braves hope they are ready to turn the corner and show consistency in the starting rotation.
How can a team survive that debacle and make it to within a few runs of the World Series? It was crazy, just like this year has been. But after you get over the pain of watching the Dodgers play this week in the World Series, just remember how bright the future is for this Braves team.
They’ll be back in the NLCS, and next time the results could be very different.
Bill Shanks is a contributing columnist for the Athens Banner-Herald. Contact him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.
The Link LonkOctober 21, 2020 at 05:49PM
https://www.onlineathens.com/sports/20201021/shanks-letrsquos-not-forget-these-atlanta-braves-overachieved-in-2020-therersquos-world-series-waiting-in-future
Shanks: Let’s not forget these Atlanta Braves overachieved in 2020. There’s a World Series waiting in the future - Online Athens
https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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