Braves Maintain Top Spot in MLB Power Rankings

The Atlanta Braves had a great homestand and are being recognized for how good of a week they had

Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr and first baseman Matt Olson celebrate scoring the winning run in the 10th inning of Sunday's victory over the Cleveland Guardians / Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves had a good week. 

Welcoming in the Miami Marlins and Cleveland Guardians to Truist Park, Atlanta swept the divisional rival Marlins before proving that their hot start was legit by taking two out of three from Cleveland, who entered the series with the most wins in baseball with 18. (The “most wins in baseball” title is now a four-way tie between Atlanta, Cleveland, Philadelphia Phillies, and New York Yankees.)

That strong performance un the win column, combined with some dominant performances on the mound, has Atlanta still on top of most power rankings on Monday morning. 

MLB.com writer Will Leitch, doing their weekly update, pointed out that Atlanta had a good week without much in the way of contributions from the stars: 

“For all the good vibes going on with the Braves right now, it’s worth noting that Austin Riley, like fellow All-Star Ronald Acuña Jr., hasn’t been off to the most blistering start. He’s only hitting .234 with an alarmingly low two homers for a guy with consistent pure power. Sunday might be the game that gets him going, though. He was 0-for-8 in the AL’s best team vs. NL’s best team grudge match over the weekend heading into Sunday, but he had two hits, one of them a huge one: A 10th-inning walk-off single that wrapped up the series for the Braves. The Braves are 19-7 without having either Riley or Acuña doing much. Wait until they do. (And they will.)”

As we discussed a week ago, Atlanta’s offense is one of the best in baseball without much in the way of power production from the top of the order. Updating things, Atlanta is still tops in runs per game at 5.73 and one of the best in the slash with a .277 team batting average (1st), .348 on-base percentage (2nd, Dodgers), and .453 slugging (2nd, Orioles). But the Braves are tied for the MLB average in homers at just 29, with thirteen teams ahead of them. Last night’s was Atlanta’s eighth game without a home run this season; the 2023 squad only saw that happen eighteen times all season. 

It’s not just the offense that excelled last week, though - Bleacher Report writer Joel Reuter singled out the pitching staff, specifically the starters, when explaining why he also put Atlanta in the #1 spot in this week’s update: 

“With a 12-3 record over their last 15 games and a plus-47 run differential that leads the majors, the Braves remain baseball's No. 1 team. The new-look starting rotation ranks 10th in the majors with a 3.72 ERA thanks to strong starts from Reynaldo López (4 GS, 0.72 ERA, 25.0 IP) and Chris Sale (5 GS, 3.69 ERA, 31.2 IP), and they will be tasked with helping to ease the loss of Spencer Strider.”

The Braves finished the six games with a combined 0.86 ERA from their starters, allowing four earned runs in forty-two innings. Despite some rough starts from Max Fried and Spencer Strider, Atlanta’s season rotation ERA of 3.72 is still the fourth-lowest mark in the National League, behind just Philadelphia (2.13), Pittsburgh (3.53), and Los Angeles (3.55).