Reynaldo Lopez Returns to Injured List, Atlanta Braves Offense Goes Silent in Washington, D.C.

[Music] welcome to the Hammer territory podcast my name is Sean Coleman hope we're every you are and wherever you are listening you are having a tremendous week so far of course course that's if you chose not to watch Ray's baseball on Wednesday night um obviously we can't thank you enough for joining us here on the hammer territory podcast part of the F foul territory family of podcast always a pleasure to be with you even when we score 12 runs or when we score one to zero runs and of course my podcast partner Stephen Tolbert is here with me and Stephen I I feel there's only one way to describe Wednesday night Max Reed chose a bad night to stink on the same night that our offense chose to get back to it is very it's very difficult in a three- game sample size the Braves have played three games here in the last three days to score 13 runs and only give up six runs so the Braves in the last three games have scored 13 runs they've only given up six runs and go one and two and that's what the bre raes are done because they scored zero runs on Monday they scored 12 runs last night and they scored one run tonight and if that is not just a perfect perfect encapsulation of this season I don't know what is every night is it's like it's like shaking a magic eight ball just to see what the offense is gonna you're just praying that the offense shows some sign of Life early because you know if they don't show any of Life early it's not coming and we've just seen that over and over and when we got to like the fourth inning honestly it was like three to nothing in like the fourth inning and I was like this game's over because like once the bravs get to that point in the game and the offense hasn't arrived it doesn't arrive and you know the Nationals already had enough runs to win that game and it's just such a deflating feeling to know that like three to nothing in the fourth inning is like an insurmountable lead and that and that's just what it feels like with this team um you know they showed they showed a flash in the pan last night about it's what I've been saying that they still have offensive Talent you know Michael Harris Jorge Solair Marcel Ozuna Matt Olson Ramone Lano Kellick you know the catchers like there's still enough Talent here to be a decent offense that there's not enough talent to be great but there's enough talent to be decent and honestly scoring 12 like it's almost like a te it's almost like it's almost more painful you know watching them score 12 runs and then go right back to just being awful um yeah you know it's very good it's very good for our podcast if the Braves make the playoffs like the podcast numbers go through the roof during the playoffs we know this for doing this for years now obviously this is a new podcast it would help us a lot if the Braves make the playoffs so we have like a personal investment in the Braves making the playoffs it's good for us with that being said I do kind of hope the Dodgers come into town this weekend and just take the Braves out to the Woodshed and you know old yell them right out of the Season like part of me hopes for that truly like I want them to win obviously I want them to make the playoffs but there is another part of me that's like I wouldn't hate it if the Dodgers just came in and bludgeon these guys for four games and it just it ended and we could at least emotionally get past this season obviously we're going to cover the team no matter what but at least emotionally we could get past this season and yeah it's tonight's just another and a long long season of frustrating games and I'm guessing the frustrating games are not done quite yet and I'm guessing we got a few more in store and it's just going to be like this every night where you're just praying to God that the offense shows any sign of Life at any point because and you know if it doesn't come early it's not coming at all and that's just it's it's a defl in way to watch a baseball game and you know the crazy thing about it we've used the word microcosm quite a bit you know talk taking you like you did these three game sample sizes and just saying that this in and of itself is a even though it's a small sample size it's still an accurate representation of the Season as a whole but it's almost the Braves offense where where it struggles is almost reverse of what you usually see Tuesday against a decent starting pitcher the Braves show that they have the offensive ceiling to still play with anyone like this is still one of the more powerful teams in baseball they proven it with the fact that they've been near the top or at the top of the majors in home runs in the second half of the season but where this Braves team struggles where you're talking about what's keeping this Braves team from being great offensively even with out all the talent that they've lost to injury where this Brave team struggles is the infrequency of them having a a solid offensive floor there is so much variance they either play like the worst offense in baseball or the best offense in baseball and far more often they're towards the be the worst offense in baseball than the best that's why I have very little faith in the Braves being able to figure it out against the Dodgers that's why I have very little faith you know you know in in feeling confident that the Braves are going to make the playoffs it's not that they don't have the offensive potential to be able to do what they need to do to make the playoffs and make noise in the postseason it's just that they're so infrequent of having a solid floor of consistently scoring four to five runs that really makes you question their true ability to be able to make the playoffs and that's what's so frustrating and with the Dodgers coming up and we'll get into this a little bit later but this team has got to figure out how to average four or five plus runs for them to truly have a shot I think to make the playoffs and I just have very little to know Faith they'll figure it out yeah I mean honesty compels me to say like the Mets the Mets have been a much better team than the Braves for a long time now like the Mets got off to a miserable start the Braves got off to a very hot start and so it's taken a long time for like their pass to converge once again and for the Mets to pass the Braves but for a long time now the Mets have been a better team and they're just more consistent on offense um you know they they've pitched way better than I thought they would and and the Braves problems have just seemingly never gone away like their big number one problem is they can't score and we thought that after enough time had passed that you know they would get hot again I know they have injuries I get it they are without their three of their regulars they're without aunia they're without Riley they're without Azie but they still have six of the guys that they were planning on having in the offense so like yes they're out they're without their you know especially two two they big guys with Akuna and Riley and so and that's why I mean they they they have no business being a great offense you can't lose Akuna and Riley and still be a great offense but they again they have six of the nine guys that they were planning on having and on top of that guys like laurano Whit marfield who have filled in for some of these guys have done really well so you add all that together this still should be a lineup that can score you know decently well consist you know some level of consistency the the injuries and we talked about this last show but the injuries are not enough to explain all of this there and Brad Scott I thought did a good job of of breaking this down um on their there the show they did on on uh last night I think it was or it was either their Sunday show or last night show I can't remember which one but you know the underperformance the lack of production from offensive talent that they were supposed to get from guys that have been either healthy for all the season or healthy for most of the season is just as big of a reason for this you know this problem as the injuries are and yeah I I mean you know the pitching can only carry you like it's it's it's so hard to only give up two runs a night from your pitching staff like if that's how you have to win a game if you have to only give up two runs and otherwise you can't win then you know it's just it's damn near impossible quite honestly it's it's a miracle to I mean that's how good the pitching has been this year by the way the Braves are like number one in every single significant pitching category literally every one of them they're number one in baseball and that's the only reason the Braves are still alive at this point is because the pitching has just been so freaking good like so much better than I ever thought the pitching staff would be and they've had to be that because the offense has given them very little to you know to work with night after night 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code fou at navage.com so of course the performance on the field on Wednesday night was pretty disappointing but but you're used to it by now with how often it is occurred unfortunately the other thing that has occurred it seems nearly as often off the field is is significant injuries and the Braves once again dealt with that on during the day on Wednesday of course if if you recall from Tuesday night despite how great it was to see the offense he were for 12 runs and finally have an easy Victory Ronaldo Lopez only pitched one inning on Tuesday night um you know after the game um you know he and Brian Snicker commented on you know his what he was experiencing and Ronaldo Lopez I I I appreciate you know how transparent he was he he just simply said you know he didn't really feel he he seemed to be in good spirits he didn't really feel as if it was anything major he just did not have the usual ability that he had to ramp it up to 9 6 plus he just didn't have that on Tuesday and that's probably what contributed to him running into a bit of trouble on um in the first Inning on Tuesday so they did an MRI nothing structural showed up as being concerning they feel that they may be able to put him on a throwing program here in a few days but they did Place him on the 15 day de Hernandez was caught up in his spot but Stephen while overall it's it's good initial news with it being this late in the season you don't know if ronal Lopez is going to come back like you you you hope that he does but you don't know and I know that all four of us Brad Scott you myself we basically said in different different variations you know throughout this season that as long as the Braves have cell and freed that's a pretty good onetwo combination you know that in terms of the starting staff you have to feel pretty good about yourself in a series but Ronaldo Lopez has maintained his Effectiveness throughout most of the Year especially coming back from his injury in August and his loss should not be discounted he in my opinion this season has been the most trusted right-handed arm that the Braves have to be able to work through a lineup whether it's under 500 or a quality lineup he he going into the playoffs he was the most trusted right-handed arm that could work through a playoff lineup multiple times and now Atlanta may be without him I know we talk about the offense you know and the injuries it's experienced I know the pitching staff overall has just been incred but this is a big loss and you have to hope that he comes back or the Braves are going to have to go to less trustworthy options you know potentially if they make the playoffs and especially down the stretch just to try to make the playoffs yeah it was kind of weird honestly because like all the news was good like they did test initially after he came out of the game and they were all clean they said the MRI um all the you know this the uh the shoulder was structurally sound there was nothing wrong structurally just a little bit of inflammation which is all good news but then they immediately put him on the iil and you know there's there's like 17 days left in the season so a 15-day I stint I mean people can do the math you know I did find it notable that they put him on the is immediately if you remember back when he got hurt the first time you know there was this long weight to put him on the I because they thought maybe he could pitch through it thought maybe you know by not putting him on the I they could save a few days and he could come back sooner it didn't end up working they ended up putting him on the I eventually but it was notable to me that they immediately put him on the 15-day I this time where I mean and I get why they're trying to get him I'm sure back as fast as possible but yeah snit was very non-committal about the timeline when uh reporter spoke to him today before the game he just said they'll know more about the timeline once they get into a throwing program and see how he feels which I mean that makes sense of course you have no idea how guy is going to feel you know 10 days from now so um but yeah I mean if you're a Braves fan you just kind of I mean honestly the you know The Prudent thing to do is probably to expect that he's probably done it doesn't mean he's definitely done but when you're getting put on the 15-day iil in the middle of September um you know I'm going to be I tweeted this today I'm going to very very to see what they do in terms of his role if he does come back like are they just going to throw him right back in the rotation are they going to throw him in the bullpen we know he's a really good reliever he's done that for years um you know if he does come back his role is going to be very interesting but yeah the fact that they immediately put him on the fact that it was a shoulder to begin with which is always scary yeah I'm if I'm honest given the way the rest of the year is gone I'm not really expecting much from him um if he comes back and is able to maybe pitch in that last series against Kansas City and then pitch in the postseason if the Braves are even even in the postseason quite honestly I mean by the time he by the time these 15 days are up depending on how this Dodger series goes the brave season might be over anyways so you know it's very possible we've seen the last of ronal Lopez for 2024 I will say the fact that there was no structural damage does mean obviously much more positive things for 2025 and Beyond you know the Braves do have this guy signed for multiple years after this year so you know that that matters that that's a part of this but in terms of 2024 I mean the early he can come back is the last series of the year and if the Braves don't start playing Better Baseball their season might be done by then yeah and you and you look at it as well you know over the past six weeks I you know basically over over the last two months of the Season Ronaldo Lopez is going to have spent half his time on the iil one for you know I believe it was a forearm I believe he had a forearm injury that he was dealing with and now a shoulder injury so you also have to wonder you know what's he GNA look like you know what's of his Effectiveness going to be um you know and if he's put in the the bullpen spot you know that means Charlie Morton or Spencer swach is is going to be starting you know potential game three but even bigger than that this is three Starts Now that you don't have one of your better pitchers one of the better pitchers in the National League this year going you're going to have to replace him um in in the starting rotation so just once again the Braves having to unexpectedly alter what they were going to do with less effective options and and you know simply hope for the best but speaking of being less effective you know one thing that one of the things that is stood out to me the most that youve said some many great things all season Stephen but one thing that I thought was so so true I believe it was the last time we did it was one of our podcast last week you talked about the fact that if the starting pitching for the Braves is not spectacular there's a very good chance the Braves are going to lose the game and we're starting to see a a bit less Effectiveness from this Brave starting staff SP swelling boach his last outing against Toronto over the weekend you know Max freed tonight he didn't look that great I know that a lot of the runs that Washington scored was off weak contact but Max didn't seem to have his usual control you know he he G Runners got on base by hitting the ball hard you know once again we're seeing that if the these the margin for era is so small because of how jecko and H high this offense is that if this starting pitching is not crisp and it's not given a Quality quality to dominating start this team is really putting in a position to where it's going to be hard for them to win yeah I mean I have a hard time I mean it's 100% true everything you just said and and we've been talking about it all year that this the pitching staff has to be damn near perfect for these for these guys to win so I have a hard I have a hard time blaming the pitching staff when they're not perfect like I you know Max was not good tonight he gave up he had base runners every he had like he gave up like 12 base runners in four Innings or something like that something crazy um you know and actually if you look at since he's come back from the ilil Max has got like a four 450 erra or something like that since he's come back from the he hasn't he has he hasn't been you know the typical Max freed since he came back which is a different topic for you know especially if we get into the playoffs you know I don't think he's quite been as sharp since he came back um but again I'm not going to spend very much time ripping the starting rotation um you know we can nitpick stuff you know swollen box a rookie he's pitched more Innings this year than he's probably ever pitched in his life at you know on any level you know counting bull pins I mean he's thrown you know he's just blown past his career Innings limit um you know Charlie Morton every time we think Charlie Morton is gonna you know ride off into the sunset he comes roaring back and and throws out a solid month chrisell scor is probably goingon to win the sa young Ronaldo's been fantastic Max has been up and down by his standards but yeah I I just I I I have a hard time mustering up any any energy to to rip on the the starting rotation um they have to be I mean they have to be so perfect to win games and it's just an impossible way to I mean this is what the Mariners have tried to do for like the last five years is is put up an incredible rotation a really good Bullpen and try to win every game two to one and you just can't do that you just cannot you can't play this many close games there's a reason why one-run games are used as a metric to determine if a team has been lucky or unlucky because there's just a lot of variance there's more variance in one-run games than any other type of game because it just takes one pitch it takes one misplay one run to just to flip the game and when you play all of these close games you're just going to lose a bunch of them that's just how it goes like the point of a good offense is to give you a margin of error where you get past the variance where you get past the randomness and you get into a much more consistent way of winning baseball games this has been the Mariners problem forever and this is now the Braves problem you can't score you can't win consistently it's just the bottom line I don't care how good your pitching is you get into all these close games you burn out your Bullpen you're just going to lose a bunch of them that's the nature of baseball and you know we've said it all year I'm so sick of saying it but until this team scores runs at a somewhat consistent level this is what they are they are a you know they've been a 500 team now for about five months and that's what they are I mean they're still 13 games over 500 which is exactly where they were you know at the end of April they have literally not added a single game to that ledger because they have been a I mean that's what you are when you can't score you're a 500 te because you're just playing all these one-run games those kind of games break both ways at a pretty even clip and that's what you are and that's what the Braves are yeah I think it may have been 2021 I think that was the year where we were talking about the Braves trying to what win three games in a row and every time they did they were like 0 and 10 or 0 and 11 when they tried to do it I can't I can't remember the exact statistic but Brad Roland made up a great Point somebody not sure somebody else made it but Brad mentioned it to us before the podcast the Braves have tried seven different times this year to go 14 games above 500 and they are 0 and s in those games they've not been better than 13 games over 500 since late April which is the definition of a 500 team and just to be clear you know bringing up the fact that the you know starting staff is you know starting to be a little bit less effective agreed with Stephen and and this my point was not to way shape or form criticize the starting staff it's just to point out that the starting staff doing what it was doing nearly a month of the starters going without allowing three or more runs in a game is Just unheard of it was an incredible streak and you likely were not going to see it continue you're likely we're going to see it stop at some point and with yeah yeah that was that was a stretch where the Braves needed to play like 20 and five baseball yeah yeah they had yes they they need to play to the level that the Mets did but the big thing that stands out is that what the Braves couldn't do that the Mets have done all year the difference between the Mets and the Braves over the past four months has been the Mets be beating teams that they're supposed to beat but because the Braves offense can't be trusted they can't beat teams that they're supposed to beat yeah and so that's that's what really has stood out but now with Ronaldo Lopez on the iil you know you're going to have to have an arm step up Stephen so you know you you you definitely you know Spotlight turns to you know Charlie Morton's you know continuing his good es a blate Spencer swelling boach hopefully gaining some Effectiveness back but you know Grant Holmes potentially you know stepping into a rotation spot um the Braves are going to go you know with swell and box sale Morton and freed in their four games against the Dodgers over the weekend into Monday you know does Grant Holmes get an option after that potentially could we see AJ Smith Sher you know potentially be an option for the Braves you know it's going to be quite interesting to see what happens and the other thing that kind of concerns me Stephen when it comes to Al effective starting staff and now you're losing one of your more reliable starters this puts even more pressure to atired Bullpen so we talk about that the Braves need their pitching to be as pristine as possible and you just mentioned that if they're not how hard it is the one other thing that stands out is that losing another arm to injury that heightens the chance that you're going to continue to see fatigue play a bigger part in What the Braves are doing and that's a real concern especially for the B yeah I'm assuming I mean we haven't heard anything um they haven't made this call yet I'm assuming Grant Holmes is just going to go back to the rotation I don't know you know he's been a multi- inning guy I'm guessing they'll probably try to stretch him out over a couple starts where he maybe goes four Innings one and then maybe five or six the next um but you know who knows maybe AJ Smith Scher comes up at some point and replaces somebody um you know they they brought it D Bell um you know in in AJ's spot which is what made me think that Grant Holmes was just going to go to the rotation and da Bell would just go into grant Holmes's Bullpen spot but we'll see what they do um you know it's it's it's really only going to be two starts I mean again we're we're in the middle of September we got two weeks of baseball left so you know it's not talking about a long-term problem here it's going to be a pretty short-term problem one way or the other um so yeah I'm assuming Grant Holmes but yeah you're right I mean the bullpen you know the bullpen really had to you know they had to throw eight Innings yesterday because you know Ronaldo came out of the game after the first inning you know Max did a good job of at least you know getting some Innings tonight he was it was looking rough there in like the second and third inning he was already at like 50 60 pitches he had a ton of base runners I was really you know the Braves getting um the Braves getting an off day tomorrow so that does help but I was really worried that he was going to come out of that game early and the bullpen was gonna have to cover up another five or six Innings but yeah I mean losing Ronaldo sucks there's just no no other way to say it you know even if it even if he does come back for the postseason losing him for this stretch run in the middle of a dog fight you know playoff race just sucks and other guys are G have to step up Grant Holmes did a pretty good job in the rotation I thought um for what he is and I'm guessing that's where they're going to go but who knows you might see Ian Anderson you might see AJ Smith Scher um they do have a couple options in in guette if they want to go that route but the main thing is the offense the offense has just got to show up you know like it's it's actually not against the rules to to get hot for like two weeks or three weeks like that's that's that's perfectly legal in baseball you can stay hot for like three or four weeks you don't have to just stay hot for like two days and then go right back to being crap so if the offense can once again for the Millie time if the offense can show any life then the Braves are not dead in the water but if they keep doing this where every other game is one two zero runs then it's going to be a pretty quiet October I'm afraid absolutely so so let's turn our our attention to the Dodgers and and if you have a feeling of of gloom and doom if you're not looking forward to this weekend I don't blame you I'm right there with you you know it's not it's not me wanting I I I I very badly do not want to be negative about the Braves chances I have remained quietly confident up until about this week and the Braves figuring it out finally and and being able to pull ahead and and and and figure it out to where they'd be in a playoff position but with the injury to Ronaldo Lopez and again this offense just showing a spurt of success but then going right back to being dormant it's just it's hard to have faith but two things stand out to me Stephen is that again I mentioned that you know the Mets credit to them they have been playing excellent baseball I think that they had the best record in baseball over the past three plus months the difference between their success over the past three months and the Braves lack of success the Mets have consistently beat teams that they're supposed to beat they've also done pretty good against teams that are you know of equal talent but was has stood out about the Braves this year the Braves have played better against quality teams than they have teams under 500 so coming into this weekend the Mets and Braves are facing arguably the two best teams in baseball the Mets have four against the Phillies the Braves have four against the Dodgers the Mets right now or a game up in the Wild Card a couple of things that stand out for me in this Dodgers series Stephen for the Braves to find themselves in a similar position as they are now or maybe a favorable position on Tuesday once this war game series against the Dodgers is done they've got to get a split they have to figure out how to get multiple wins or better in this series of the weekend they just have to and the only way this team is going to do that in my opinion is if they get back to hitting home runs they don't necessarily have to hit more home runs than the Dodgers it would be nice it would that that they they probably do need to to be able to get those multiple wins but they just don't need to be severely out homered they they got to hit home runs for this offense to have a chance and the one Saving Grace that I'll say is that stands out the Dodgers pitching staff I believe is 24th this year in home runs per nine innings so this Dodgers pitching staff can give up home runs but if the Braves are not hitting home runs I find it very hard they have a chance that to me is the biggest key in this series can the Braves power return if it does they may have a chance if it doesn't it could be a very long weekend yeah you know the Dodgers have dealt with quite a bit on the injury side um kind of opposite of the Braves well no they lost mooki too I was going to say they've dealt with most of it on the pitching side but they end up losing mooki for like two months or three months or something like that so they've dealt with a lot of injuries um the difference of course is they they're getting pretty much all of their guys back and the Braves are are not getting a bunch of their guys back but um you know the Dodgers are the Dodgers the Braves went to LA early in this year and just got creamed for three games and you know honestly if you go back and look at like where this bad run of play started that's essentially never ended it was basically in that Dodger Series where the Braves went to LA and just got smacked around for three games and they've honestly had a hard time rebounding ever since and yeah I I'm not over really optimistic especially without Ronaldo um you know swach is a rookie who's up against you know more Innings than he's ever thrown you know of course I always have confidence in Chris Sail um and then you got Morton and Max um we'll see how it goes you know I there is a part of me that feels like sh Otani is going to come in and do to the Braves what Ronald auno Jr did last year when the Braves went to LA for four games and took three of four and and Ronald basically won the MVP in that series by just destroying the Dodgers for four games and part of me feels like sh might come in and do something like that the Braves have never been able to get Sho Otani out even with the angels He just destroyed Braves pitching It's Not Unusual he destroys everybody but yeah we'll see I don't have the most confidence you know I don't have confidence in this team when they're playing the Nationals so I I certainly don't have confidence in them when they're playing the Braves um you know if the pitching can hold up that's I mean that's the that's what we've said all year right the pitching's got to give up like three runs or less and if they can do that the Braves got a shot because that's essentially what it takes for the Braves to win games um if the offense wants to wake up and hit some homers then I'll take it you know like you said they've done pretty well against good teams this year the Dodgers notwithstanding um so we'll see but yeah with the Mets playing the Phillies maybe the Phillies can give the BR some help the the the division races over so obviously every Braves fan needs to be a Phillies fan this weekend um and hope the Phillies sweep the Mets but yeah the brav are going to need some help and the Braves they got to find some offense somewhere I don't know where they're going to get it you know Marcel zuno has been a little cold um you know Solair has been cold you know Michael Harris had a good series in Washington Matt Olson's been much better L lately we'll see they need offense somewhere and they need the pitching staff to keep on being Elite well and and I I just have to because it's just I just I I can't go a whole podcast without being some sort of positive it's just not in me I don't think but what I will say is this is that I think it's right it it's perfectly sensible for any person to say it's just hard to have faith in this Braves team but this is also an opportunity for the Braves to figure out what if we could figure out a formula that may work now that could help down the stretch and into the playoffs is it homers is is it getting better more productive with runners in scoring position like we haven't been all year sure it's a variety of things but the point that I'm getting at is is that this is also an opportunity for the Braves to be able to if they have success this could be the spark that they need to go on the run that they need to whatever lack of faith you have in that I don't blame you one bit I don't think I I find it very hard to believe it's going to happen but it could happen and the other thing to consider is that the Braves again here recently over the past month they've had multiple times in which it's felt like rock bottom that loss to Colorado in Colorado what the Braves do they came right back and had the best stretch um of the season in the midst of that they lost Austin Riley for eight weeks due to getting hit by a pitch what they do they came right back and beat the Phillies and this game and this series is at home which definitely helps out as well so is all Hope Loss know could can the Braves still make up whatever happens in this Dodger series will the Braves still have time to make up for it yes but at some point this team has to help itself that's the thing that stands out to me it has to help itself it's done it multiple times this year against quality teams can it do it again that remains to be seen But as much as we're talking about hey it's more than likely it's not going to be a good weekend so on and so forth if the Braves could figure out how to find some success that really could be a launching point to where they could get that spark that you talk about step for two weeks and find themselves in a better than expected position next week to kind of you know take the season you know to take control the rest of the season and maybe use a good weekend to really spark them to go on a good run yeah I will say this the Dodgers are not playing great baseball right now I think the Cubs have I think the CU the Cubs are winning right now in La I think if they win this game tonight I think the Cubs will actually sweep the Dodgers if I am remembering that correctly I think they won the first two games of that Series so the Dodgers are like five and five in the last 10 they're kind of treading water I mean you know they're on Pace to win a 100 games so it's a lot easier to tread water but um yeah they're not playing great baseball um you know their offense has been up and down their pitching staff has been it's obviously been hurt so you know that's a big part of it but who knows you know the Braves don't typically play the Dodgers well in the regular season but like you said it's it's been such a weird year and things have just been backwards and and and random and weird who know maybe the brv take three or four and they get right back into this and the Phillies you know maybe the Phillies can help the Braves out and take care of the Mets and we'll see um it's not what I'm expecting but it's baseball crazier things have happened the Braves do have Chris L they do have Charlie Morton they do have Max freed and swellen back's been really good most of the year so you know they do have a chance in all all four games I will say that but the offense has just got to wake up it can't do this if they score if they have you know where they if you look at the end of the four game series and they've scored eight runs total 10 runs total then you know it's I'm guessing that the Dodgers took three or four pretty comfortably but we'll see it's baseball weird things happen in in small samples and I still think this team has enough talent talent you know I I know the injuries the injuries are part of it but I still think there's enough Talent on this team it just has not played to its level all year and so it's tough to expect it to start in the back end of September against one of the best teams in baseball but again it's baseball we'll see what happen anything can happen it'll be inter you know we're going to cover it either way but it's baseball anything can happen and for anyone who hears what I'm about to say if you bring it up to me I promise you I will absolutely deny deny it for the rest of my days but the simple truth also is this is that as big of a fan of the Braves as everybody in the Braves fan base is you need to be as just a big of the a fan of the Phillies over the next two two and a half weeks the Mets literally I believe it's a two days ago per tanon had the toughest schedule left in baseball this year because the most games they have left is against the Phillies who also happen to be the best team the EVS are going to play for the rest of the season the Phillies have something to play for just like the Dodgers do but for the Braves to be able to get some help for the Braves to be able to finally hopefully see this stretch of of incredible winning that the Mets are doing break a bit it's got to be the Phillies having you know helping them out can it happen sure is it likely maybe and I know that it's not fun to hear but if you're a break bra span and you especially don't have faith that the Braves themselves are going to be able to you know for once take control of Their Own Destiny and and and you know earn the playoffs for themselves then next best thing you could hope for is the Phillies you know when when six out of five or six or seven out of their seven games remaining with the Mets so you know that's that's that's what I'll say doesn't sound fun to say it but that's kind of where we are with with how this season has gone we honestly are now saying things that we never thought that we would say but hey that's the point that I'm at to try to will this team to a playoff spot oh yeah I mean the division race is over the division race was over the moment the Braves lost three or four in Philly so like there's no you need to be rooting for the Phillies hard the next two weeks which sucks I mean I get it but if you want to make the playoffs now if you would rather this season just end and you don't want to make the playoffs then yeah root for the Mets but yeah I mean you know it's scoreboard watching season I know the players and the coaches don't do it they always say you know we just concentrate on the game in front of us or whatever they say but for fans it's scoreboard watching season you know the Mets losing is a big deal every night and you know they were being no hit going into the ninth inning tonight and then scored six runs on the on the Blue Jays and ended up blowing out the Blue Jays um so that's why they're a game up now with the Braves loss but yeah scoreboard watching season you know we need the Phillies to be awesome next you know 10 days since they played the Mets over seven of them and May maybe the Braves can hold their own against the Dodgers maybe you know maybe they can win the series I mean it can happen it not likely to happen the Braves are almost certainly going to be the underdog in all four of these games maybe not this Chris Sale game but um probably the other three but who knows it's baseball you know we'll see what happens and we will be here to cover it either way and just to again continue the positive thoughts what has been a huge reason why the Braves have been able to bounce back from those multiple moments over the past month where it seemed like we had hit R bottom but we bounced right back the ba the Braves won the first game of the series against quality starting pitching the game right after that loss to Colorado was the excellent pitching match up between Chris ill and Blake snail the Braves won it the game right after Austin Riley went down with his R wrist injury the Braves beat Zack Wheeler on Friday night they're facing Landon Knack and who has been okay he has been okay so far this season but one big thing one big boost that could be there for the Braves just win game one take a game by game win game one then all of a sudden it becomes a bit easier to win two out of three versus three out of four you've done it in recent weeks just win game one have a big offensive night at home after getting some wrestling off day just win game one and that could really be the start to a successful weekend Stephen I know that we were up and down all over the place this podcast just you know good try working through the disappointment of Wednesday night's loss trying to be positive where we could anything else that you got for us on this edition of The Hammer territory podcast nope yeah it's just I mean obviously the Braves have an off day tomorrow and then you know this massive series and then the home stretch and they're still in it I mean the Braves as crazy as it sounds the Braves can still actually still accomplish what they set out to do at the beginning of the year which has won a World Series that is still alive as you know I mean they have you know they got off to that really hot stretch in April and they have lived off that hot stretch the whole season because they have been a 500 team since April and you know because they've been able to at least hold the line they are still 13 games above 500 which is what they were five months ago and they can still make the playoff like it's still alive and they just at some point they got to start playing to their talent level even if their talent level is less than it once was and it is by a lot the talent level they have on their team is still good enough to get into the playoffs and once you're in you can do anything so if they start playing to their talent level then they can make the playoffs and if they make the playoffs they can win the whole thing because their pitching is that good so you know I am not as positive as you are Sean I think our personalities have been pretty clear on this show you are you are certainly the the light of positivity uh to my more negative but if I was going to be Mr positive that's what I would say the Braves have enough talent to make the playoffs and then if you make the playoffs anybody can win it so that's where I'll leave it for tonight yeah to your point about you know they' basically been kind of riding the wave that they started with this season you know the old saying goes It's not how you start it's how you finish well for the Braves this season if it go if this season is going to be memorable in any way it may literally come down to how both the Braves started and they chose to finish but like I say I I understand it's disappointing it it absolutely is and again my my my level of faith is certainly at the lowest it's been in quite a while um but it's not over and the Braves have shown too often too frequently over the past several years that when they still have the ability to achieve what they've set out to achieve or get close to it they typically will deliver they'll typically give themselves a chance and here's a golden opportunity for them to do it no matter how unlikely it is just win game one just win that game Friday night and then take it game by game and with each win it becomes a bit easier to accomplish your goals for Stephen toart _ outliers on Twitter um as well as X whatever you call it nowadays my name is Sean colan you can find me at stats saac on Twitter SLX make sure you check out all the great content from the foul territory family of podcast F foul territory wherever you um choose to listen to the shows at Hammer territory across all forms of social media for Steph Tober my name is Sean Coleman hey you know what no matter how good or bad it is go Braves we'll talk to you again soon here on the hammer territory podcast