Braves Sweep Phillies to Clinch 4th Straight National League East Title

The Atlanta Braves are champions of the National League East for the fourth straight season thanks to a 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.

Atlanta entered Tuesday with a 2.5-game lead over the second-place Phils, who came into town for a three-game series. The Braves proceeded to sweep Philadelphia to knock the Phillies out of division title contention.

Entering 2021, the Braves looked like a serious threat to the Los Angeles Dodgers for NL supremacy. Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter ranked them fourth in his final power rankings before Opening Day and noted it was "World Series or bust for this group."

But that was before the franchise lost its best position player and one of its top pitchers to season-ending injuries.

Mike Soroka was recovering from surgery on his right Achilles tendon in June when he suffered another tear. Only a few weeks later, Ronald Acuna Jr. tore his right ACL while attempting to make a play in the outfield.

Prior to his injury, Acuna had been playing at an MVP-type level with 24 home runs and a .283/.394/.596 slash line through 82 games.

Fortunately for the Braves, the Philadelphia Phillies have been inconsistent all season, and the New York Mets have fallen well short of expectations. The midseason acquisition of Javier Baez didn't alter the latter's fortunes much.

Despite all of the setbacks the team has encountered, Atlanta remains a dangerous opponent in a playoff series.

Freddie Freeman is following up on his MVP campaign by remaining one of MLB's best first basemen. Entering Thursday, his .379 weighted on-base average and 135 weighted runs created plus are on par with his career averages.

Adam Duvall is the NL leader in RBI (112), while Ozzie Albies has already set a personal best with 30 homers. In his first full 162-game season as a major leaguer, Austin Riley entered Thursday slugging .527 with a .225 isolated power. He added his 33rd home run Thursday.

On the pitching side, a playoff rotation that includes Charlie Morton, Max Fried and Ian Anderson is formidable. Huascar Ynoa (3.98 ERA, 3.88 FIP) is another option to either start or come out of the bullpen for multiple innings.

In high-leverage situations, any one of Luke Jackson, A.J. Minter or Tyler Matzek can take over before it's Will Smith's turn in the eighth or ninth.

Heading into the All-Star break, the Braves were 44-45 and third in the division. Now, they look a totally different team.

All of that progress hasn't catapulted Atlanta to the top of the World Series race. FanGraphs gives Brian Snitker's squad an 8.1 percent chance of winning its third title, but the pieces are there for the Braves to buck the odds and go on a run like the Washington Nationals had in 2019.

Player stats courtesy of FanGraphs