Philadelphia – On Thursday Night, Michael Harris II and the Atlanta Braves season came to a disappointing end as they fell 3-1 to the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Philadelphia’s series clenching victory on Thursday pushed their playoff home record to 26-11, the best in MLB playoff history according to the TBS broadcast.
Throughout the season we have raved at how historic the Atlanta offense was, but during this year’s NLDS it was Philadelphia who did the history making. In Game 1 the Phillies set a team record for most steals in a playoff game with five. In Game 3, the Phillies 6 homers were the most hit by any team in postseason history.
Right Fielder Nick Castellanos, who hit two homers of his own in their 10-2 Game 3 victory, added two more home runs in Game 4 to become the first player in MLB postseason history to hit two home runs in consecutive games.
As for the Braves, their pitching may have struggled but in the end the offense that tied the record for most home runs in MLB regular season history simply failed to do its part. Ronald Acuna Jr, Ozzie Albies, Marcell Ozuna and Matt Olsen combined for 0 home runs and just 1 extra base hit the entire series.
MLBbro Michael Harris II saw his postseason come to an end when he was pinch hit for by Travis d’Arnaud. Harris managed to get on base in Game 4 thanks to Trae Turner’s 2 base error but finished the 2023 postseason hitless and still has only one hit in his two postseason appearances.
HIs fellow MLBbro Vaughn Grissom was the only other MLBbro on the Braves NLDS roster, but unfortunately, he didn’t get an opportunity to contribute. Grissom struck out after being called to pinch hit with two out in the bottom of the 9th.
The Braves became the second national league team this postseason to be eliminated after winning 100 games, joining Dave Roberts and the LA Dodgers who were eliminated by Tommy Pham and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Atlanta won their 6th consecutive division crown this season, but for the second straight postseason Philadelphia is the final NL East team standing.
MLbbro.com told you early in the season to keep an eye on the New York Mets rotation and the squad’s melanated mound marauders; Taijuan Walker and Marcus Stroman. The team from Queens is one of just two MLB rotations with two Black starting pitchers.
(Seattle Mariners pitchers Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn comprise the other Black starter tandem)
On Tuesday, both pitchers carried their whole weight in leading the Mets to a sweep of NL East rival Philadelphia.
It was exactly the kind of performance that Mets brass hoped for when they decided to bring these two potential Black aces into the fold to round out what could eventually be the best pitching staff in baseball.
Both pitchers have basically been lights out. Stroman has a 0.37 ERA and in 12.1 innings pitched he’s given up just 1 run on a homer and eight hits.
He wants all the smoke. At 5-foot-7 he’s a walking billboard for his branded HDMH slogan: “Heart Don’t Measure Height.” Let’s not forget he’s doing all this while fighting social justice causes and responding to idiots all day long on Twitter,
That heart was on full display. After getting his start cut short during a nine-pitch rainout on Sunday, instead of waiting his normal five days to start again, Stroman went Rough Ryder DMX on em’ and came back on one day’s rest to hurl 6 innings of no-run, four-hit ball, in a performance fit for framing.
He was efficient, throwing 86 pitches to lead the Mets to a 4-0 shutout win over the Phillies.
Stroman’s outing followed a spicy effort by Walker, who set the day off like Queen Latifah with the semi-auto, hurling 4.1 innings of 1-run, 3-hit ball with a whopping 8 strikeout. Yeah, he was throwing ched,
This short, but masterful outing follows Walker’s first Citifield start in which he surrendered just two runs in 6 innings. Both of Walker’s efforts ended in a no-decision, but he pitched more than well enough to win.
Walker’s a live arm that the Mets signed to shore up the rotation. At just 28 years of age and having pitched for some pretty average to bad teams in his career, there was much optimism that Walker could really turn up this season on a Mets team that has the pieces to make a lot of noise in the playoffs.
These Black Knights are what we would call X-factors for the Mets this season. How far the Mets advance will strongly depend on the performance of their bros in arms. Both are playing on the best team of their career and if they pitched to their abilities, both could easily have career campaigns. It really comes down to staying healthy.
Walker’s durability is always in question. Entering the season the 6-foot-4 heat hurler had started just 15 MLB games since 2018.
There were skeptics who suggested that Stroman was more bark than bite based on the fact that he hasn’t had a winning record since 2017 and his ERA has fluctuated dramatically. Stroman knew better and entered the season healthy, confident and anxiously waiting for a team to explode on.
The Mets already have a formidable staff with the best pitcher in the game (Jacob DeGrom) leading the way, To have two other pitchers capable of dominating at times comes in handy for the Mets, who currently have two key starters missing. Noah Syndergaard is on the shelf and No. 2 starter Carlos Carrasco is on the IL with a bad hammy.
Give it up for these brothers who continue to dismiss the myth that Black men don’t pitch…anymore.
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