By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

After defeating the Mets 5-3 in 10 innings on Saturday night, the Atlanta Braves evened the beginning of their season to 1-1 with a meager 58 more games to play.

Two games wouldn’t generally provide a lot to chat about, but this is 2020 and everything is either a little or a lot different.

So, let’s take a moment and figure out what we can glean from Atlanta’s first two contests of the season.

Starting at the end: it took only two games before the Braves experienced one of 2020s more drastic rule changes; a runner on second to start every extra inning.

In Atlanta’s case, Adam Duvall started the top of the 10^th on second base and the first batter up, Dansby Swanson drove him in to take a lead that the Braves would hang onto in the bottom of the inning.

It’s easy to say that I like the rule since the team I was rooting for won the first time it was used, but I do think it adds an immediate excitement to the game (in addition to being a functional way to shorten games in the middle of a pandemic).

Just look to the bottom of the 10^th. The Braves were up by 3 runs, but with only one hit the Mets had the tying run at the plate in the form of last year’s MLB homerun leader Pete Alonso.

They only got one run across the plate, but the tension was great. The very real possibility that the Mets could come back was palpable right away. In short, regardless of how it goes game-to-game, this is going to be an exciting wrinkle to the season.

Let’s turn now to the offense that the Braves have produced over the first two games of the year. The 5 runs in the second game of the series is nothing to scoff at, but up through Marcel Ozuna’s game-tying homerun at the end of the game the Atlanta offense looked downright anemic.

The heavy hitters in the lineup, Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuna, Jr., have done very little of note so far. Of course, it’s incredibly early, but with a 60-game season Atlanta can hardly afford to take some to warm up.

The pitching, for the most part, has looked good.

Mike Soroka picked right up where he left off with a stellar 6-inning outing on Opening Day, and Max Fried, while a little less in command of the ball, also pitched well.

The bullpen, specifically Chris Martin, was responsible for the lone run that cost the Braves the game after Soroka was pulled. However only one run allowed by the ‘pen is generally an acceptable amount.

Luke Jackson displayed his two trademarks: a) being left in too long (not his fault) and b) making a game unnecessarily close (his fault), but they got the win and you can’t argue with results.

The pitching was expected to be a strength of this team, and it looks like that may hold true.

Some other, quicker points: Pace has long been an issue with baseball, but neither game has seemingly dragged (again, small sample size).

The minimum of three batters for relievers along with the extra inning rule seem like they’ll be effective in this regard.

The DH in the National League has been a long time coming. Technically it’s a “this season only” rule, but I’d bet it’s here to stay.

Chip Caray said that the Mets are expected to make the playoffs. With a whopping 16 teams qualifying this season (if it gets that far), he’s probably right. It’s going to be a wild chase for the series.