Can anyone beat the Braves, the clear and obvious World Series favorite?
The team that tied the Mets atop the NL East last year is now 28 1/2 games better.
New Mets honcho David Stearns has a tough catchup job but, to be fair, everyone trails the Braves now.
And most by a lot.
Not only are they the easy favorite, but now the Dodgers, the most-cited second choice, are suffering so many rotation issues they may need to resort to employing some openers in the postseason.
Meantime, the recent returns of Braves aces Max Fried and Kyle Wright round out a rotation plenty good enough considering the offense that’s already set a new mark for home runs by a National League team with 282 and is on pace to break the overall mark of 307 by the 2019 Twins.
The Braves break opponents’ spirits early, with a franchise record 132 first-inning runs, putting them on pace for the most in decades.
MVP candidates Ronald Acuna Jr. (basically in a dead heat at the top with Mookie Betts) and Matt Olson (who tied Andruw Jones’ franchise home run record at 51) are a big reason, but there’s great depth.
Marcell Ozuna needs one more homer to give them the first quartet with 35 homers apiece (Acuna and Riley also are already there).
We know of teams where everything goes wrong and, well, this is one where everything’s going right.
The Braves tried to deal Ozuna after his domestic violence issue but found no takers. Others are beset by injuries; the Braves are bolstered by recovery. Eddie Rosario could barely see last year before surgery. Orlando Arcia, the surprise shortstop, became an All-Star.
The 96-50 Braves, winners of six straight NL East titles, are on pace to beat the franchise record of 106 wins of 1998, back when their rotation included three future Hall of Famers.
Considering the injuries that kept Fried and Wright out until recently, even they are amazed.
What’s more, they’re doing this after doing virtually nothing in free agency, signing for $1.4M only Jordan Luplow (of course the trade for catching standout Sean Murphy worked beautifully, as have all their many long-term deals for home-grown stars). They can do no wrong.
“If (Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos) doesn’t get Executive of the Year,” one rival says, “that’s just crazy.”
The one thing that could derail them is the October crapshoot.
In recent years, only 25 percent of teams with baseball’s best record went on to win the World Series (seven of the last 28). And some of the losers included the powerhouse 2002 Mariners, 2010 Phillies and 2022 Dodgers, who won 111 games.
As Anthopoulos himself pointed out about the recent trend: “It’s been awesome. But I think it means zero when the postseason starts.”
At this time last year, the Dodgers looked like maybe the greatest team ever.
For now, so do the 2023 Braves.