HOUSTON — As soon as the Atlanta Braves checked into the Four Seasons hotel in Houston on Sunday night, memories started coming back for manager Brian Snitker and players, coaches and other staff members who were part of the 2021 World Series championship team.
Monday at Minute Maid Park was the first time the Braves played in Houston since Nov. 2, 2021, when they beat the Astros in Game 6 to clinch the Braves’ first title since 1995.
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“Good memories,” Snitker said, smiling in the visitor’s dugout two hours before the series opener, a 6-1 Braves win that featured four ninth-inning runs charged to Josh Hader. “Last time I was here, it was a pretty good time. Just driving to the park today, and remembering being in the hotel, with everybody there, all your family and whatnot. It’s just pretty special.”
Snitker then glanced toward the dugout steps to where he was seated in his customary in-game spot that night in November.
“I remember sitting in that chair in the ninth inning and there were two outs, and thinking to myself, my God, this is really gonna happen,” he said. “There’s nothing like it. In the industry, that’s what you strive for all the time, and it’s very blessed to be able to do that.”
The Braves won that World Series in a year despite being a sub-.500 team in the first week of August.
“I remember at the All-Star break, I wouldn’t even say we were treading water — we were right below the surface, really,” Snitker said of a team that was 44-45 at the halfway point.
Nice showing by the rookie Darius Vines in his third MLB start. He goes 4 2/3 innings and allowed 4 hits, 1 run and 3 walks with 4 strikeouts. Bummer came in to get the final out of the fifth after a 2-out Altuve single off Vines, who threw 46 strikes in 80 pitches. ATL leads 2-1
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) April 16, 2024
Those Braves turned their season around after a series of trades that general manager and president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos made between the break and the trade deadline, rebuilding an injury-diminished outfield, in the process adding more thump to the lineup — Jorge Soler, Adam Duvall — along with the outsized personality of Joc Pederson.
The moves sent a message to the team that management believed in their ability to right the ship. And that’s exactly what happened. The Braves went 36-18 after Aug. 2, hitting 90 home runs and pitching to a 3.45 ERA over their final 54 regular-season games. Then they won 11 of 16 playoff games and never faced elimination in any postseason series.
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“The thing you think (about) is just how hard it is to pull that off,” Snitker said.
The Braves talk a lot about their organization’s winning culture, which began in the 1990s with 14 consecutive division titles, and was fully rekindled — some would suggest even taken to another level — in 2021.
They saw longtime face of the franchise Freddie Freeman leave via free agency after the 2021 season, yet the Braves still won 101 games in 2022 and overcame a 10 1/2-game deficit at the beginning of June to overtake the New York Mets and win the NL East.
Then, after Gold Glove shortstop Dansby Swanson left as a free agent following the 2022 season and ace Max Fried missed more than half of the 2023 season with hamstring and arm injuries, the Braves still won 104 games in 2023 and a sixth consecutive division title.
Their early exits from the postseason each of the past two years — back-to-back four-game NL Division series losses to the Philadelphia Phillies — took some shine off what the Braves accomplished during those two seasons. But in the clubhouse, players point to those two seasons as examples of how the Braves have been unwavering in their approach and their expectations.
Their confidence is a big reason the Braves haven’t panicked since losing pitcher Spencer Strider to season-ending elbow surgery last week. They haven’t wavered in their World Series-or-bust mantra.
“We’ve got a lot of depth,” veteran catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. “And Strider will be around and helping us out still. So his presence will still be there, I’m sure. That’s important. … Obviously, losing a guy like Strider is tough, but we’ve always had that next-man-up mentality since I’ve been here.”
The next man up Monday was Darius Vines, who had an encouraging outing against the Astros in his sixth MLB game, and third start, after Allan Winans made the first fill-in start in Strider’s absence last week and gave up seven runs in the first three innings of a loss to the Mets.
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Vines had traffic on the bases early with two singles and two walks in the first inning but induced a double-play grounder and got out of the inning with only one run yielded. He went on to pitch 4 2/3 innings and gave up four hits, three walks and four strikeouts, leaving with the Braves ahead 2-1.
The Braves expect to use multiple pitchers to fill in for Strider initially — they are effectively in the fifth-starter role, with the other four starters moving up one spot. The Braves will see if one of them, such as Vines or Bryce Elder (once he’s called up), performs at a level to warrant staying in the rotation.
Reynaldo López impresses early
The Braves need other starters to pick up some of the slack with Strider gone for the year, and so far newcomer Reynaldo López has surpassed expectations, posting a 0.75 ERA in two starts with only seven hits, one run and five walks allowed in 12 innings. He has 11 strikeouts.
D’Arnaud was asked what he likes about López, who makes his third start Tuesday against the Astros.
“Everything,” d’Arnaud said. “His demeanor. He’s a good guy in the clubhouse. Obviously, his fastball command is really good. His off-speed, all three of (those pitches) have been solid, too.”
López featured a 100 mph fastball as an overpowering reliever last season with the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels. He impressed the Braves so much pitching against them — and against other teams — that they signed him to a three-year, $30 million deal in November. Then they announced he would get stretched as a starter, a role he last filled in 2021.
López’s four-seam fastball average velocity is down 3 mph from last year’s 98. But that’s by design, with him pitching as a starter and wanting to go deep in games. He was primarily a fastball-slider pitcher as a reliever but has thrown his curveball frequently as a third pitch this season, and it’s been effective.
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His presence on the mound has stood out to many who wondered how the return to starting might go.
“Good feel of slowing the game down and not getting caught up in the situations,” Snitker said. “His stuff has been really good, and hopefully it continues. That kind of was what we envisioned. We’ve got a long way to go in the season. And that’s why every chance we get, we’re probably going to give him a little extra (rest between starts) as we build him up. But it’s been really good so far.”
Said d’Arnaud, “Even when the situation gets hairy, he’s just calm and stays within himself all the time. He’s never gone over the edge or anything.”
Sean Murphy on the mend
Catcher Sean Murphy, on the 10-day injured list since straining his left oblique in the second game of the season, has started slowly ramping up rehab activities, including some light throwing on the field before Monday’s batting practice.
He’s not running or doing any swinging with a bat yet.
“Not running running,” Murphy said.
So, fast walking?
“Fast walking,” he confirmed. “And StairMaster. Making progress.”
The Braves brought him on the trip because he’s not close to beginning a minor-league rehab assignment and they value his input in the daily strategy meetings that catchers d’Arnaud, Murphy and catching coach Sal Fasano have, going over opposing hitters and putting together a game plan. They also converse among themselves and with the Braves’ pitchers during games, with backup catcher Chadwick Tromp also taking part.
The Braves have been adamant about not letting Murphy push the envelope in his rehab, stressing the importance of being fully healed. Virtually everything he does in his normal playing duties would stress the oblique, from swinging and throwing to, as Murphy demonstrated, reaching with his glove hand to make a catch or block a ball.
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“If it’s not 100 percent, then you could just fall back down that mountain — you could go back to Square One easily,” said Murphy, who never had an oblique strain before this one, but said he knew right away what he’d done when he felt pain taking a swing.
“I was like, ‘Oh, that’s what that is,’” said Murphy, who had heard other players describe the injury enough to recognize it right away when he did it.
It’s an injury that can initially make it uncomfortable just to breathe.
“It’s not fun,” Murphy said. “That’s why it takes so long to heal, because that muscle can never actually, like, stop. You need it, like, every time you breathe.”
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(Photo of Darius Vines: Tim Warner / Getty Images)
