6-time defending NL East champion Braves find themselves in dogfight
WASHINGTON – As Cavan Biggio fixated on the clubhouse TV Wednesday afternoon, it would be understandable if he was having a mild out-of-body experience.
Just a few minutes earlier, he’d landed in his third major league clubhouse in four months, clad in an Atlanta Braves uniform, this after wearing the togs of the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers and Sacramento RiverCats – the Class AAA outfit for the San Francisco Giants – since summer began.
On the TV, the Blue Jays – the only franchise he knew since they drafted him in 2016 – were playing the New York Mets. And if Biggio checked the standings from the whirlwind few days since the Giants shipped him to Atlanta and the big club called him up, he’d know the Mets and Braves were tied for the National League’s final wild-card berth.
Weird spot: The only team he knew, releasing him in June after he batted .197 with 10 extra-base hits in 183 at-bats, now in position to help the team he’d known only a few minutes.
Yet as the Braves aim for a seventh consecutive playoff berth, stories like Biggio’s abound in their clubhouse. Injuries have ravaged Atlanta’s roster, with All-Stars at third base (Austin Riley), second (Ozzie Albies) and a reigning MVP right fielder (Ronald Acuña Jr.) out for weeks to months, Acuña’s torn ACL ensuring his next at-bat will be in 2025.
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Center fielder Michael Harris Jr. only recently returned from a 52-game hamstring-related absence. The rotation has seen three starters succumb to the IL, with ace Spencer Strider lost until 2025 after one start.
Theoretically, the Braves – entering Thursday a game back of the Mets for the final wild card – could lean on their playoff chops and track record as they joust with the Mets while likely ceding their six-year reign atop the NL East to Philadelphia.
Instead, they’re still getting to know each other.
“If we were sitting here with our full contingent of guys,” says manager Brian Snitker, “it would be very beneficial. But this is kind of a different situation here now.”
How different?
Wednesday’s lineup featured four players who began the year elsewhere, three of them – Biggio, outfielder Ramón Laureano and third baseman Gio Urshela – grabbed off the waiver wire or in a middling September transaction.
Biggio won’t be eligible for postseason play. Maybe he won’t last on the roster past the weekend, when another scrap heap acquisition – utilityman Whit Merrifield, late of Philly – is activated. Maybe he’ll register crucial, memorable hits down the stretch.
For now though, this is reality for both the Braves – “you have to piece things together,” says Snitker – and the castoffs hoping to catch a hot streak.
Know your why
“This is what you play for,” says Biggio, son of the former Houston Astros Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, who spent six seasons in Toronto. “This is the most exciting time of the year for baseball. I’ve admired this organization for a long time, from watching my dad play against this team for so long and not having much success against these guys.
“It’s very exciting to be a part of such a respected organization at a time like this is more than I can ask for. I’m extremely grateful for every opportunity I’ve been given and I’m going to continue to work and try to help this team.”
It’s nice to be wanted, certainly. Biggio’s abrupt Toronto departure was softened by the fact the NL-best Los Angeles Dodgers acquired him after the Blue Jays designated him for assignment June 12. Laureano was dumped from a contender, Cleveland releasing him on May 25; Urshela was sent packing by Detroit after the veteran kept the seat sufficiently warm for third base prospect Jace Jung’s debut.
Yet the timing of it all was fortuitous.
Laureano was released May 25 by the Guardians; the next day, Acuña tore his ACL in a baserunning mishap in Pittsburgh. Three days later, Laureano was a Brave.
Similarly, Riley fractured his right hand Aug. 18, the same day the Tigers released Urshela.
Welcome to Atlanta, Gio.
“Everybody that’s come over has been great,” says first baseman Matt Olson, who has rebounded from a rough first half to launch 12 homers in his last 44 games. “Biggio and Laureano weren’t getting the kind of everyday looks that as a player you want and feel like you need. It’s crazy how opportunity comes up. Ramon’s done great for us. Biggio’s been around for a while.
“It’s a clubhouse full of guys who have been in postseason play, who have been in tighter races at the end, know how to navigate it, operate it, and have that ability to put the scoreboard-watching aside and go play a game every night. That’s kind of nice that we have that.”
Laureano has been perhaps the Braves’ best player of late, with 34 hits in his last 100 at-bats. With Harris back in center, the pair give Atlanta an elite defensive look in two of the three outfield slots, with Jorge Soler – acquired at the trade deadline – in right.
He knew the expectation level in Atlanta.
“Of course,” says Laureano, reunited with former Oakland teammates Olson and catcher Sean Murphy. “But obviously, we know what has happened with the rosters and injuries and everything. But it’s an attitude that we have good enough depth and team to go as far as we believe.
“This is why you play – play meaningful games in late September. You gotta showcase yourself, show who you are. It defines who you as a person, as a player, this type of month.”
Snitker appreciates that the stuntmen imported to do this job need little cajoling.
“To their credit, all those guys have done a really nice job of keeping us relevant,” says Snitker. “That’s the biggest thing – they’re really, really good makeup guys. They’re ballplayers. I think they appreciate the fact they have another opportunity and it’s an attractive situation to come here.
“Guys play against us over the years and a lot of them and want to be a part of this – because they see what they see from the other side of the diamond.”
‘Time to enjoy it’
Yet will it be enough? Albies is still struggling to swing a bat; Riley is projected to be out through the regular season. Starter Reynaldo Lopez went on the IL Wednesday to allow shoulder inflammation to calm.
The narrow margin makes nights like Wednesday galling, when the Washington Nationals cracked open a scoreless game with three third-inning hits off Max Fried that measured between 61 and 89 mph off the bat. The 5-1 loss sends Atlanta back home 79-67 and a game behind the Mets, with a four-game set against the loaded Dodgers on deck.
A six-game interlude against Cincinnati and Miami precedes the three-game showdown series at home against the Mets beginning Sept. 24.
The Braves haven’t missed the playoffs since 2017, Snitker’s second season; a year later, he won NL Manager of the Year honors and has known nothing but late Octobers since.
Now, he’s surrounded by newcomers, and perhaps the here-goes-nothing ethos will serve the Braves well down the stretch.
“The thing I’ve learned from being in this situation is just have fun with it,” says Biggio, whose Toronto teams made the playoffs the past two seasons and narrowly missed in another. “I played with George Springer the past couple years and he obviously had a lot of success in the postseason. That was his main message: You play to get to this time of year, this moment.
“And now it’s time to enjoy it and have fun with it.”
For however long it may last.
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