Thursday, June 22, 2006

Braves need to Buy, NOW

As Sully recently mentioned, the Braves remarkable run seems to be coming to a fast end. They have now fallen behind both the Marlins and the Nationals to drop into last place, 14.5 games behind the Mets, and 9 games back of the Reds in the Wild Card race.

This is why they need to buy now. They should not be sellers as the trading season begins. They have won their division 11 straight years. They have made 14 straight playoff appearances. That is their legacy. Winning world championships clearly isn't. Actaully, during this Braves run that started in 1991, the Phillies, Mets, and Marlins have combined to win four NL Pennants and two World Championships. The Braves at least got one title to make sure they're not the Buffalo Bills, but it's that run, the 11 and 14 that is their legacy.

They need to do everything at this point to extend that. Don't go down quietly. If you lose it, so be it. It was a great run. But give every effort possible to keep it alive. The reality of the situation, is that as amazing of a run as it's been, it's not a safe legacy.

The Yankees have 8 straight division titles, and 11 straight playoff appearances. And while the Yankees might not catch the Braves, you do know there is no way they'll let their streaks go down quietly.

It may be a bad baseball decision and bad long term for the Braves to try to make a run this season. So be it. Go for it. Maybe an amazing run to make the playoffs will even get the Brave fans to show up for the postseason.

1 comment:

Greg said...

I'm glad you're correctly calling it an 11-year run. I'll even accept the "11 and 14" - that seems appropriate, and easier than saying "they've won the division 14 out of the last 15 years." Let's go with that.

But they need to sell, now. Either way, they're not banging out that ballpark, so they may as well at least look towards next year. They're not that far off if everyone's healthy.