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By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Despite dropping a big one in their homestand against the Baltimore Orioles and the Cincinnati Reds, the Braves have maintained a steady lead in the NL East over the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals.
It’s a bit a miracle, to be quite frank, because the baseball gods should have made Atlanta pay for losing consecutive series against two last place teams. One of which, the O’s, is the worst team in all of baseball (and outside of Kansas City, it’s not even close).
But the Braves escaped from that abysmal stretch pretty much unscathed and have been plenty appreciative thus far on their current road trip, putting up big numbers in the first two games against St. Louis.
It’s a good sign that the Bravos can still beat good teams, because July is going to be a hell of test for Atlanta. Arguably this is a month that can prove that the Braves are for real or humble them in a big way.
Why? Because of who they are playing. The best records in the National League belong to the Milwaukee Brewers, the Atlanta Braves, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Chicago Cubs, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals.
Beginning with the current series against St. Louis and excluding Atlanta itself because, duh, the Braves play every one of those teams except for Chicago and Philadelphia.
Not that missing the Cubs is much of a relief, because instead of that club the Braves are traveling to the Bronx for a three-game set against the Yankees, who have a significantly better record than anyone in the entire National League anyway.
There’s a two-game set against Toronto in the mix as well, but even they managed a split against Atlanta earlier in the season.
So, when I tell you that July is an important month, you can take that to the bank. The Braves have to win these series. Especially, because the Nationals play Miami EIGHT times during the month in addition to a six-game road trip against Pittsburgh and the Mets.
Plus, Philadelphia gets treated to series against those same Reds and Orioles that Atlanta should have stomped. The Phillies get a home series versus the Padres and play the Marlins and Pirates as well.
This would be the time, if I were a writer for a publication in Pennsylvania, I would suggest that Philly needs to take advantage of the schedule discrepancy and put pressure on Atlanta. Especially, considering that the Phillies and Braves won’t play each other until two of the last three series of the season.
On the flip side, that is what makes it so important that the Braves come out of this month not having lost any ground to the teams below them, Philadelphia in particular.
Just as they won’t be able to control their own fate if they are behind, so too will the Braves lack the ability to widen the standings (or worse, make a comeback) in head-to-head matchups until the campaign is almost over.
Atlanta will play Washington in one series per month for the rest of the year, including in July. I would argue it’s actually more important that they keep Washington down by playing well during these dog days of summer.
The Nationals still feel like a sleeping dragon. If they manage to climb to the top of the standings and subsequently start playing at the level at which they are capable, they will be very difficult to unseat as division leaders.
Make no mistake, this is going to be a very tough month for Atlanta and me saying ‘they need to play well’ seems obvious and easy.
However, come October, this may prove to be the most important month of the season for the National League East.
Matty Ice Cool Dollars
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Recently I wrote an article about the Falcons draft, suggesting that with their first-round pick of talented wide receiver Calvin Ridley, the rich got richer.
The rich being the offense in this scenario. Flash forward a few days and for one key member of that offense, it became literally true as Matt Ryan inked a five-year contract extension with Atlanta that includes a whopping $100 million guaranteed.
I’ll save you the research and tell you that this is the richest NFL contract in history and that Ryan will be the first quarterback to earn $30 million annually.
Matty Ice won’t be complaining, but neither should anyone else. Ten years into his career, Ryan has shown that he is the right guy to lead this Falcons team and the best chance they have of securing a Super Bowl win anytime soon.
Is he worth all that money?
Yes, it’s a lot of money and there are always going to be some concerns with a contract as huge as this one but here the benefits outweigh the literal costs.
There is, of course, some concern that devoting so much money to one player will handicap a team’s ability to spend on other areas of need in the future.
Let’s dig at that a little. Cap space is a much more complicated situation that simply looking at what the players on your team are being paid in any given year.
Teams move money around all the time, paying big bucks up front or deferring payments until later and cuts are being made constantly. Plus, that cap never remains the same – it rises. One big contract for a player like Ryan is not going to debilitate the Falcons’ spending ability. The process is too fluid to allow for that.
Besides, paying Ryan his market value is better than any alternative. Picture the Falcons resetting at QB with a draft pick; while maintaining the talented receiving core that they already have in place.
How many wins have they sacrificed because they didn’t want to pay up for established QB?
Building off of that, how would the Falcons even begin pitching an extension to the likes of Julio Jones if he’s faced with catching passes from an unproven rookie instead of recent MVP Matt Ryan? How much more difficult would it be to sign free agents?
Let’s also not overlook what Ryan has done for this franchise. He was drafted 10 years ago when the Falcons needed a PR win after Michael Vick’s legal woes.
In fact, you might argue that drafting this admittedly talented but pretty bland character out of Boston College was little more than just that; a PR move. But he took the reins of a team in turmoil and led the charge into relevancy.
The Falcons made the playoffs with him as a rookie QB and while they didn’t make the postseason the following year, Ryan led them to a 9-7 record which was the first time in franchise history that the Falcons posted back-to-back winning seasons. Then he led them to three more.
Think about that. Consider how important this guy has been to a Falcons team that in 43 years had never strung together two winning seasons before Matt Ryan showed up and put up five in a row.
The Falcons are as legit a team as there is in the NFL and it is thanks in large part to the league’s new $30 million man.
We’re ten years into the Matt Ryan era in Atlanta, with at least six more on the horizon. Is he worth the money?
Without a doubt.
