The Atlanta Braves' play on Friday and Saturday night vs. the Tampa Bay Rays spoke volumes.
With one game left before the All-Star Break, we know where things stand between the Atlanta Braves and the Tampa Bay Rays.
These two well-run teams from the south seemed to be on a collision course toward meeting in the World Series. Tampa Bay got off to a blistering hot start in April, but have cooled down considerably since. Atlanta has played great ball throughout but has been on fire since Memorial Day weekend. Fate would have it, the Braves refused to lose the first two down in St. Petersburg.
With the Tampa Bay Times going with the headline of "Visiting Braves feel right at home, dominate Rays at Tropicana Field", you know exactly how the critical interleague series has gone so far. Atlanta took Game 1 on Friday night 2-1, only to follow that up with a dominating 6-1 win on Saturday night. The Braves have 60 wins before the All-Star Game and do not lose series at all.
With so much of Braves Country attending the game, you would've thought it was at The Battery!
Atlanta Braves embarrass Tampa Bay Rays on their home turf and in newspaper
While Atlanta could totally mail it in on Sunday in the series finale before the All-Star Game, I did pick up on a few things as a biased observer from the last two at The Trop. The first is well… the Braves have Sean Murphy, and the Rays don't… His big flies in both games were the deciding factors in Atlanta taking the first two over Tampa Bay. He is the best catcher in all of baseball now.
The second substantial thing I noticed was that while the Rays are a great team in their own right, they just don't have the horses to get on Atlanta's level, all things equal. The Braves have an extra gear or two that even a top-tier team in the sport like the Rays simply do not have. What makes Atlanta so fun to watch every night is you never know what player is about to go Beast Mode.
And finally, the last observation is all about the atmosphere. It certainly had the feel of a playoff game, but I kept going back to this: Where was this game even being played? It was loud on the telecast whenever the Braves did something good. Tampa Bay has fans, but you have to remember that Braves Country is a nation-wide fanbase, and one that will apparently travel well.
Overall, let's just hope you can avoid the Braves' side of the bracket in the postseason for as long as you can. Of course, they could fall to pieces at the worst time possible because I do know what Atlanta sports is capable of. However, this was clearly a measuring stick series in St. Petersburg, and the Rays have thus far come up so painfully short. They are good, but have some work to do.
For now, no team was better in the first half of baseball than those scorching-hot Atlanta Braves.
