Frank Wren on the 2012 Braves:
Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 2:46 pm
We start with the obvious: Yes, the Braves are in great shape, but they were in great shape a year ago and collapsed in a heap. They awoke Saturday with the same record (70-49) as they held after 119 games in 2011, and then they owned a six-game lead over St. Louis and San Francisco for the one and only wild-card berth.
This year there are two wild cards, and the Braves led Los Angeles by 5 1/2 games for the second WC entering Saturday night’s game at Turner Field. And they were 3 1/2 games closer to the first-place team in the National League East — Philadelphia last year, Washington now — than in August 2011.
Baseball Prospectus gauges the Braves’ chances of making the 2012 playoffs at 96.7 percent. So, to put it bluntly: Unless this team authors a flop of historic dimensions for the second consecutive year — and what are the odds of that? — it will qualify for the postseason. And what’s apt to happen then?
Said Frank Wren, the general manager: “[The playoffs are] a function of when do you play well, and if we’re playing well then clearly we’ve got a team that can go all the way.” http://blogs.ajc.com/mark-bradley-blog/ ... l-the-way/
This year there are two wild cards, and the Braves led Los Angeles by 5 1/2 games for the second WC entering Saturday night’s game at Turner Field. And they were 3 1/2 games closer to the first-place team in the National League East — Philadelphia last year, Washington now — than in August 2011.
Baseball Prospectus gauges the Braves’ chances of making the 2012 playoffs at 96.7 percent. So, to put it bluntly: Unless this team authors a flop of historic dimensions for the second consecutive year — and what are the odds of that? — it will qualify for the postseason. And what’s apt to happen then?
Said Frank Wren, the general manager: “[The playoffs are] a function of when do you play well, and if we’re playing well then clearly we’ve got a team that can go all the way.” http://blogs.ajc.com/mark-bradley-blog/ ... l-the-way/