The Atlanta Braves came away with a series win after defeating the New York Yankees 3-1 on Sunday in the Bronx, and they have now won eight of their last 10 coming off of a five-game losing streak. Braves manager Brian Snitker had a simple response to the recent stretch of play and said something that should scare the rest of MLB.

“We're playing more to our capabilities,” Brian Snitker said, via the Associated Press. “Quite honestly, I still don't think we're hitting on all cylinders.”

The Braves are missing Ronald Acuna Jr. and Spencer Strider for the season, but there is still a lot of talent on the team, as shown by this recent stretch. Beating the Yankees in a series in the Bronx is impressive, even if they are struggling as of late.

Max Fried is the team's ace with Spencer Strider out, and he pitched six innings, giving up one run on an Anthony Volpe double. Like the team overall, Max Fried has rebounded after a rough start to his season. Snitker was confident that he would turn it around as well.

“It's kind of like our hitting. Knew it was going to turn around,” Snitker said, via The Associated Press.

In 15 games this season, Fried is now 7-3 with a 3.00 ERA, pitching 90 innings and striking out 80 batters, according to MLB.com. He will need to continue to perform to the level he is capable of to keep the Braves in contention to win the National League.

Braves' outlook for the remainder of the 2024 season

After Sunday's win, the Braves moved to 43-32 overall, firmly in the top Wild Card spot in the National League but seven games back of the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East. While not impossible, it is going to be tough to chase down the Phillies for the division title.

The Braves are still in a good position to make the playoffs, however, and we have seen that teams can make deep runs from the Wild Card before. Both the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks did last season, and so did the Phillies in 2022.

Atlanta is in a similar position as it was in 2021, when Ronald Acuna Jr. went down due to injury. The Braves went and traded for a bunch of players to fill the holes that were left by the injuries and went on an improbable run to win the 2021 World Series over the Houston Astros.

The Braves had strong teams in 2022 and 2023 but were upset by the Phillies both years in the ALDS in four games. The past few years have shown that anything can happen in the playoffs. Even though the Braves are not the strongest on paper at the moment, don't count them out in October.