TJ Hartnett

Braves Season Wrap Up

By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Like any losing team, the Atlanta Braves had an overabundance of disappointments during 2017.

Especially given that a few years back, 2017 and the opening of the new stadium was pegged to be the year that the then-rebuilding Bravos would begin to compete again.

As 2017 inched closer, those paying attention knew that wasn’t going to be the case but with 2016 ending on a high note with an offense firing on all cylinders there was potentially plenty to look forward to. So as the season wraps up this week, let’s look at a few positives and negatives from the season.

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Rays Still Swimming

By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

From 2008 to 2013, the Rays were a consistently good team. They made the playoffs in four of those six years, including a World Series berth against the eventual champs, the Phillies in 2008.

In the three seasons since, it has been a rougher go for Tampa Bay. This year appears like it may shake out no differently. They’re too far back in the division to be anything other than a headache to the Red Sox and Yankees ahead of them, both of which have been holding onto playoffs slots for dear life.

However, that doesn’t mean that Tampa should be written off completely. They are in the hunt for the second wild card spot. They have two teams between them and, at the moment, Minnesota.

They just need to scrap and fight and claw and, of course, win. They also need to stay healthy. Middle of the season injuries to Colby Rasmus and Kevin Kiermaier have crippled the team’s potential in 2017.

They also need to play at least to their base level. Evan Longoria in particular needs to reach a consistent level of production in September for this snowball in hell not to melt.

The second wild card has changed the game so much (for the better), making teams that would be done for the year still competitive this late in the season. Having two wild card spots keeps so many clubs in the hunt and it alone is keeping the Rays’ ambitions alive.

It’s still not an entirely likely scenario; Tampa reaching that wild card game, since they’ll have to leapfrog three teams to get in but it’s not impossible.

Unfortunately, it leaves a lot in the hands of those three clubs. They need to lose while Tampa wins. On the bright side, the Angels are the only team ahead of the Rays that they don’t play in September.

Tampa hosts the Twins starting on Monday as well as playing a road and a home series against Baltimore in the coming weeks.  They’ll have to make strong statements in those 9 games and by that I pretty much mean win ALL of them. Then pray those teams lose some more to others as well.

For the sake of covering all that there is to cover, the Rays also have a road series and a home series against the team currently holding the first wild card spot; the division rival Yankees.

Now this doesn’t mean that they’ve got a shot at getting to that first spot (though mathematically they of course do), but it is another team with a better record that they’ll need to play well against to not dash those playoff dreams.

Basically, they’ve got a lot of sway in their own destiny. Not as much as I’m sure they would like, but with 16 games against teams ahead of them in the standings, the schedule couldn’t do much more for them.

At the end of the day, they are still a long shot for a playoff spot but it’s a position they’ve thrived in before.  Even during that six year run where they were consistently contending, they seemed to constantly either have their back against the wall or just flat out get overlooked. Overlooking this team could spell doom for their opponents.

Tampa is always the underdog and that’s the role they shine in. Their incredible game 162 in 2011, coming back from 7-0 to win in 12 innings stands as a testament to what this team has accomplished with their back against the wall.

That certainly is the case as September baseball gets underway in 2017. So, Tampa, what have you got to show us this year?

 

Kennesaw State Owls Preview

By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Entering its third year of existence the Kennesaw State University football program, by playing well and providing some big wins for two years, has something it didn’t have before. It has something that, usually, no third-year program has any right to have. It has expectations.

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Alabama Crimson Tide Preview

By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Nick Saban nearly capped off his first decade as head coach for Alabama with his fifth national championship, but fell short at the last second.

Now in his 11th season, the Crimson Tide look to right that wrong and bring the title to where it they think it’s the most comfortable; Tuscaloosa.

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The New Scalpers

By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

By necessity of having 30 major league teams with four or five minor league teams each, the MLB draft is a long and often fruitless exercise. However, the fruit that does bear can ripen into Chipper Jones, so let’s see what the Braves have done in 2017.

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Coming Into The Tribe

By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The fact that a huge chunk of draftees won’t see the bigs for years, if ever, always makes the Major League Baseball draft a little less sexy than the NFL or NBA drafts.

With a less national fanfare and significantly less national visibility for their prospects baseball’s annual selection process tends to attract less attention but that isn’t to say that it isn’t worthy of a deeper dig for baseball fans who are in it for the long haul.

After the acquisition of Matt Kemp last season, the Braves’ offense lifted Atlanta from the scrap heap of squads and placed the Braves’ 2017 draft pick at number five.

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No Aces For Braves

By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Before winning the first two of three against the Marlins in Miami over the weekend, the Braves were (not) enjoying a miserable six game losing streak. It was their second such victory-less run of the year, to go along with a five-gamer already in the books all before the second month of the season has seen its halfway point.

Unfortunately, the biggest culprit behind this crime of losing has been the pitching staff; a notable bruise given that three veterans were brought on board before the season began to avoid these kinds of slumps.

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