Atlanta Braves Make a Wild Play to Match the Red Sox and Miss the Postseason

As Boston Red Sox fans lament the demise of a team that showed so much promise and had sky-high expectations, the citizens of Atlanta, Georgia, sit in the same lonely boat.

Atlanta had a 10.5 game wild-card lead over the Saint Louis Cardinals on Aug. 25. They clung to that lead in the face of a tremendous charge put forth by the Cardinals and a rapidly imploding season in Atlanta. The Braves held on for dear life- until last night. Last night the damn broke just as it did for the Red Sox and a season of promise is now over with not so much as one postseason pitch being thrown.

While the collapse in Atlanta was nearly as bad mathematically as the one the Red Sox pulled off, the Atlanta implosion had more real excuses and more real logic to it. This Atlanta team wasn't exactly built with nine-figure contracts and high-profile, experienced players.

Yes, Atlanta has seasoned veterans such as Chipper Jones, Tim Hudson, and Derek Lowe. The real talent and the key cogs of this Braves team were somewhat young and inexperienced. Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson were the two best pitchers in the Braves rotation, and neither have pitched since August.

The Braves' closer was a rookie—Craig Kimbrel. He wilted under the pressure and exhaustion of the pennant race. An unfortunate but not totally shocking result for a player in his first big league season and who is only 23 years old. 

The offense was shaky all season. Dan Uggla provided pop and a memorable 30-plus-game hit streak but still hit only .233 for the season. Freddie Freeman led the team in batting average with a somewhat pedestrian .282. 

Overall this Braves team featured some older players who were a bit past their prime and some younger ones who's flaws were not so surprisingly exposed as the pressure mounted. Add in key injuries to the Braves two best pitchers and that's a recipe for collapse.

Almost lost in the chatter about the Braves terrible conclusion to the season is the team that was chasing them. Can anyone really be too shocked that a team managed by Tony LaRussa, featuring Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter could mount a September charge? 

This collapse may not really have been as much of a collapse but more of a correction. Perhaps the Cardinals were just underperforming for the first two thirds of the season while the Braves overachieved a bit? 

Either way, Braves fans are in a similar place to Red Sox ones today. On the outside of the playoffs looking in.