2022 Atlanta Braves

2022 Atlanta Braves / Franchise: Atlanta Braves / BR Team Page

Record: 101-61, Finished 1st (t) in NL Eastern Division (2022 NL)

Clinched Division: October 4, 2022, At Miami Marlins

General Manager: Alex Anthopoulos

Managed by Brian Snitker

Coaches: Jose Castro, Sal Fasano, Drew French, Rick Kranitz, Bobby Magallanes, Kevin Seitzer, Ron Washington, Walt Weiss and Eric Young

Ballpark: Truist Park

History, Comments, Contributions

When the 2022 Atlanta Braves won their 13th straight game on June 14th, it was the longest winning streak by a defending World Series champion since the 1954 New York Yankees, who had also won 13 in a row. When the streak started on June 1st, they were four games below .500 at 23-27 and 10 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Mets. It eventually reached 14 games before ending in a 1-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs on June 17th; ironically, the win by the Cubs ended their own streak, a ten-game losing streak. The streak was propped up by some tremendous power hitting as they hit a major league best 35 homers in the 14 games, and were now 9 games above the break-even point at 37-28, having reduced the Mets' lead to 4 1/2 games. And the team's confidence was now sky-high, since the previous season's heroics had come after a decidedly mediocre first half, so they were in effect ahead of that pace.

The Braves finally caught up with the Mets on September 6th, when a 10-9 win over the Oakland Athletics put them in a first-place tie for the first time of the season. In the interim, 3B Austin Riley had emerged as an MVP candidate and was signed to a long-term contract, two rookies, P Spencer Strider and CF Michael Harris, were battling for the Rookie of the Year Award, having monopolized the Rookie of the Month Awards given out in June, July, August and September, and Kyle Wright had emerged as an ace alongside Max Fried. There had also been some setbacks, most importantly an injury that kept 2B Ozzie Albies out of the line-up since the middle of June, but the Braves had received very important contributions from a number of players who not been there for their World Series run the year before: 1B Matt Olson, acquired in a trade from the A's after Freddie Freeman had declined an opportunity to re-sign as a free agent; Wright and Strider who had hardly pitched the previous season; new closer Kenley Jansen, signed as a free agent, and Raisel Iglesias, obtained at the trading deadline; and Harris and 2B Vaughn Grissom, who had both made their debuts during the season.

The Braves and Mets battled for first place in the NL East for most of September, with the Mets usually in front by a whisker until the two teams met for a three-game series at Truist Park starting on September 30th. The Mets sent in their three best pitchers - Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom and Chris Bassitt, but the Braves still managed to sweep the series to take a two-game lead with three games left to play. Both Dansby Swanson and Olson homered in each of the three games to lead the charge. The Braves clinched the division title on October 4th - their fifth straight - with a 2 - 1 win over the Miami Marlins at LoanDepot Park, doing so with one game remaining because they held the tiebreaker over the Mets by virtue of winning the season series between the two teams, 10 to 9.

Awards and Honors

• All-Star: Ronald Acuna, William Contreras, Travis d'Arnaud, Max Fried, Austin Riley and Dansby Swanson
• NL Rookie of the Year: Michael Harris
• NL Gold Glove: Max Fried (P) and Dansby Swanson (SS)
• Topps All-Star Rookie Team: Michael Harris (OF) and Spencer Strider (RhP)

Further Reading

• Associated Press: "Atlanta Braves clinch fifth straight NL East title with win over Miami Marlins", ESPN, Oct. 4, 2022
• Mark Bowman: "The streak is over, but Braves in better spot than 2021", mlb.com, June 17, 2022. [1]
• Mark Bowman: "Braves battle to take share of East for first time in '22", mlb.com, September 7, 2022. [2]
• Mark Bownan: "Braves on cusp of NL East title after sweep: Atlanta wins season series, division tiebreaker as magic number drops to 1", mlb.com, October 3, 2022. [3]
• Mark Bowman: "Clinching NL East 'extra sweet' for Braves: Atlanta's ferocious second-half comeback cements fifth straight division title", mlb.com, October 5, 2022. [4]
• Mark Bowman: "3 reasons these Braves are better than 2021 champs", mlb.com, October 10, 2022. [5]
• Mark Bowman: 2What's next after Braves' tough end to '22?", mlb.com, October 16, 2022. [6]
• Bob Nightengale: “Atlanta Braves hire Alex Anthopoulos as next general manager”, USA Today, November 13, 2017
• Bob Nightengale (USA Today): "Atlanta knows it can rally through World Series hangover, but 'last year is last year'", Yahoo! News, June 5, 2022. [7]
• Charles Odum (Associated Press): "Braves' World Series title is big target for NL East rivals", Yahoo! News, March 30, 2022. [8]
• Joe Trezza: "Hottest team in baseball: Braves' 12 straight wins are Majors' season best", mlb.com, June 14, 2022. [9]

2022 MLB season by team