MLB 2013 Thread

[Jordan1]

Originally Posted by Boomer I didn't either, but I thought they would certainly make the playoffs. Still, the offense has under-performed for a good portion of this year, and the Braves don't really have a shutdown starter, so I don't know what the playoffs will bring. Bullpen has been unreal considering they lost Venters and O'Flaherty, so if the offense can hand the game to them late, we could make a run. But I don't think the Braves could handle the Tigers (just from the way they dominated the interleague series). And yeah, I do believe the Braves have the easiest remaining schedule in the league, so they should get top seed.

The offense under-performed part of the year? Everyone knew it'd be a streaky offense. But they're second in the league in runs and OPS. I say they're doing fine.

As far as not having a shutdown starter, I disagree. Mike Minor has been fantastic. He may not be in the Kershaw, Felix, Harvey tier of dominance, but he's in that next group. He's our #1 come playoff time. 2.76 era, 1.04 WHIP, 8.2k/9. He's an ace at this point, and has been since the middle of last year (though that was overshadowed by Medlen). And Tehran might even be better. If you take away his first couple of starts this year, he was a 2.38 era with a 1.09 WHIP. Then, you need to figure out the next two. Medlen, Beachy, and Maholm are all capable of being very good, and even dominant at times. Hopefully they find it in the next two months. And Wood has been pretty good the last two times out.