How Braves have maintained NL East lead over Phils
Fueled by Ronald Acuna Jr.'s resurgence and an "excellent" Tyler Mahle, the Atlanta Braves head into the stretch run looking to fend off the Phillies' attempts to steal the NL East crown.
Video Transcript
This division is still being decided.
After the Phillies won yesterday and Atlanta won the opener, it's a four-game spread in the NL East, and one of these two teams very likely will be a wild card team.
But would they host is the question.
We have so many questions to pose to our analysts today.
Jason Benetti, as always, with experts from both sides, Ruben Amaro Jr., CJ Nitkowski.
Adam Ottavino is downstairs inside the pitch.
You know, Atlanta, CJ, has led the NL East since April the 8th.
They've been streaky, but they've been the lead dog in this division.
How have they done it recently?
A bunch of things have happened that have gone well for the Atlanta Braves.
The offense, for the most part, has been really good.
The starting pitching guys have stepped up in a big way.
This bullpen has been good, but all along the way they've also been missing some pieces.
And right now Ronald Acuna Jr. Has gotten it going.
We know what a star he can be.
That has been some good news here for the Atlanta Braves.
And then pitching today in Tyler Mahle, an acquisition at the deadline, has been excellent.
You could argue he's been the best pitcher that has been traded so far this year.
He has become a true number two, which the Braves need right now with a couple of big injuries in their rotation.
You know, we always talk about deadline acquisitions, right?
Players coming in.
But what about a meaningful conversation at the trade deadline?
You don't hear that all the time.
That's what the Phillies did around their hitting, Ruben.
Yeah, they got together, Jason, and they, they knew that they were not doing things very well offensively, I mean, their on base percentage, their ability to drive runs in.
And they had a meeting with themselves basically and said, "Let, let's look in the mirror and let's try to be a little bit better."
They're swinging at pitches that are strikes.
They are having quality at-bats.
You know, the addition of Arraez has certainly helped them as well in that area, and it's been a true transformation of a team that is now one of the better offensive teams in baseball.
