The Atlanta Braves won a MLB-leading 104 games and had a record-tying 307 home runs last season and easily won their division in the National League East. One would have thought that they were a clear lock for an appearance in the World Series, maybe even favorites to win it all, but they were knocked out in the divisional round, possibly because of a long break according to Braves manager Brian Snitker on the Foul Territory show.
Snitker was candid in his assessment of the new rule from the MLB where the top seeds in the playoffs get a five-day break. He said it bluntly that “I don't like the system,” but acknowledged that the Braves will have to “deal with it” since they are trying to replicate their success from last season.
“I don't like the system, quite honestly. We're going to have to deal with it,” Snitker said. “We better figure it out because we're going to try like hell this year to win the division and have five days off again.”
"I don't like the system, quite honestly"@Braves Manager Brian Snitker weighs in on the 5-day built-in layoff for the top playoff seeds, and why he believes it negatively affected the team's offense
▶️ https://t.co/xWC8pMyFYN pic.twitter.com/7M3Lb0DtzG
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) March 1, 2024
While the Braves seemed like an offensive force in the regular season, they were anything but that in the postseason as they were underwhelming before losing to their rivals in the Philadelphia Phillies in a surprising 3-1 series. Talking about the playoff struggles, Snitker said on the show that it is difficult “to hit velocity when you haven't seen anything in five days.”
“The biggest thing we haven't done is hit,” Snitker on Braves’ postseason struggle in 2023. “It's hard to hit velocity when you haven't seen anything in five days. That's my biggest thing. We had a team that set all these records and everything offensively, and we didn't hit much in the postseason.”
Snitker takes an offensive player's perspective with long break
It is an interesting dichotomy to hear a baseball manager say this as one would think that the rest before the most meaningful games of the season would be beneficial for the best team. Snitker thinks otherwise, but it could be too many days of break as “the juices aren't flowing.”
“I think as an offensive player when you're not seeing the lights aren't on, the juices aren't flowing, and you're not seeing velocity like you're going to face in the playoffs, it's hard to score,” Snitker said.
In any sense, the Braves will once again have high expectations coming into this season with returning stars and even with the additions made by the team. Snitker spoke about the inclusions for Atlanta on the “Foul Territory” show, describing as adding “velocity” to the bullpen to help the offense.
“We added some velocity to our bullpen and hopefully we can keep the other guys from scoring till we get our sea legs under us. Our offense can get kicking,” Snitker said.
In terms of the additions made, the Braves acquired long-time Boston Red Sox pitcher Chris Sale and Reynaldo Lopez. While the Braves will worry about the five-day rule if it comes to them towards the end of the season, they have Opening Day to look forward to as they start their season looking for revenge against the Phillies on March 28.
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