Braves Clinch 2018 NL East Division with Win vs Phillies | Bleacher's report

With their rebuilding effort sooner than expected, the Atlanta Braves earned their first title in the National League East since 2013 with a 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.

This will be the first trip to Atlanta in the playoffs since 2013, which was also the last time the franchise has recorded a record of wins.

The last four seasons of player development at MLB level and at the miners have paid a lot for the Braves in 2018.

At the beginning of the year, PECOTA's Baseball Prospectus projection system (Kris Willis of h / t Talking Chop) teamed the Braves to a team of 76-86. The offense was to mark the second least number of passes in the east of the NL (704) and allow 757 passes.

Instead, the Braves entered Saturday ranked second in the NL with 733 points scored and sixth with a running average of 3.80 ERA.

The sensation of rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. leads the team with 26 homers and a percentage of 0.564. Ozzie Albies was named to the National League Star Team in July and has 23 homesteads at the age of 21.

Jay Jaffe, from FanGraphs, noted in August that Acuna was improving as the season progressed:

"Before the All-Star break, he hit .249 / .304 / .438 for a 99 wRC + with a 6.5% market rate and a 30.4% suppression rate, since then he has reached a .344 / .410 / .767 rate for a 210 wRC + – he is fourth in the majors in the last two numbers since the break – with a rate of 9.0% and a withdrawal rate of 25, 0% .K-BB's percentage fell from 23.9% to 16.0% .Zoom rate of the area from 32.2% to 24.4%, and its turnover rate of 12, 4% to 9.9%. "

The Braves' mix of young talents with established veterans, such as Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis, proved to be a winning formula that led the franchise to think of lasting success for years to come.

Although the long-term potential of the Braves seems to be high, their goal is to win a World Series in 2018. This group has defied expectations all year round, so the other NL playoff teams must be on their match. they want to stay. with them.