The Atlanta Braves could finish with the best slugging percentage as a team of all time

The Braves have a combined .501 slug, with only nineteen players in baseball reaching that mark individually

It feels like everytime you turn around, there's a new ridiculous offensive record that the Atlanta Braves are about to break. 

Let's add to that list. 

In a season where the Braves have already had only the 5th 40/40 season in history from one Ronald Acuña Jr and are on pace to break the single season home run record of 307, there's a team stat that's almost too incredible to believe. 

The Atlanta Braves, as a team, are slugging .501 this season. 

Of players qualified for the batting title in MLB (3.1 plate appearances per team game), there are only twenty individual players in all of MLB who are slugging .500 or better. 

(Fun fact, Atlanta has five of them - Matt Olson, Ronald Acuña Jr, Marcell Ozuna, Austin Riley, and Ozzie Albies).

2023's slugging leaders in MLB, among qualified hitters / Baseball Reference

As we mentioned above, Atlanta's on pace to break the single season homer record of 307, from the 2019 Twins. They're currently sitting at 299 - when they hit their next homer, the Braves will be the first team in MLB history to hit 300 homers and steal 100 bases (currently at 124). 

The Braves' homer total of 299 is not only the most in the majors, it's the most in the majors by a LOT. The Dodgers are in 2nd place with 240 - you could remove Matt Olson's MLB-leading 53 homers and Atlanta would STILL be leading the Dodgers by six bombs. According to MLB.com researcher Sarah Langs, the only three home-run-leading teams to finish the season with a greater differential over second place were the 1884 White Stockings (102 more than the second-place Cleveland Buckeyes) and 1947 Giants (65 more than the Pirates).

To cap it all off, let's talk about what's considered one of the greatest lineups of all time - the 1927 Yankees. New York called them "Murderer's Row"; that offense went on to score 975 runs, outscoring their opponents by 376 (an MLB record for run differential that still stands today). Four of those hitters (Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Earle Combs, and Tony Lazzeri) along with two pitchers (Waite Hoyt and Herb Pennock) and two team officials (manager Miller Huggins and team president Ed Barrow) all ended up in the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

The 2023 Atlanta Braves have a wRC+ ("weighted runs created plus", a ballpark and era adjusted offensive metric that allows comparisons between teams of different locales and time periods) that is 124, one point below the MLB record 125 set by those Yankees. 

It's been a special offensive season in Atlanta, and let's hope the bats stay hot all the way through October and the Fall Classic. 

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