What Braves players, coaches said after winning the National League East
Your Atlanta Braves officially cemented the National League East for the sixth straight year with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Citizens Bank Park, kicking off a party that went into the night (and probably will spill over into Miami for today's off day today).
But there was a common theme when the celebrating players took time to speak to the media during the festivities: The job is not done.
Last night's winning pitcher, Spencer Strider, was direct in that this was only the first step, speaking to David O'Brien of The Athletic. "What we say on the first day we get to spring training is we want to win the East. Snit says we’ve got to get a seat at the table. We got it, so the goal now is, obviously, we want to keep winning. Everybody’s going to show up with the same intensity, the same competitiveness as we always do. But the goal is October and making it happen once we get there.”
Reliever AJ Minter talked about the NL East crown being the expectation, not the final goal. "Every division title feels different, but it’s the next one every year that feels the best. This is what we expect when we put on an Atlanta Braves jersey, is to be here every year,” Minter said. “That’s what makes this team and this organization so special.”
Ronald Acuña Jr was succinct: "The job is not done."
Manager Brian Snitker was quick to point out that even though it wasn't the final goal, celebrating a NL East title was still something important to do. "They’re all special, all really hard, and you should enjoy every time you get a chance to do this. Those guys should enjoy every minute of it. It’s like I told them, don’t forget how this feels either, because this is a really good feeling, that your hard work is for something."
Even general manager Alex Anthopoulos, whose tenure coincides with the streak of division titles, understands exactly how hard it is to lock down a divisional crown. "We’ve chased teams down, so you never take it for granted. You worry the whole time. I think once you start doing the math towards the end, you start thinking, ‘OK, someone’s going to have to go 18-2 and we’ll have to go 1-19 or something,’ so you start feeling a little better as it starts getting closer. But this was a big series, we still had seven games left against these guys. We’ve chased teams down; you definitely can falter, get banged up and so on, and you don’t know how things are going to go when guys start getting hurt and so on. So I just never take it for granted."
And the injuries were a big deal this season, with Atlanta losing multiple starters on both the pitching and position player side for stretches. One of those injured players who missed multiple months, lefty Max Fried, told Mark Bowman of MLB.com that this particular group of players was uniquely suited to weather the injuries to not only win, but dominate. “This team has been incredible. We’ve had some injuries throughout the year, but this group is a special one. Everybody has been able to pick each other up when we need to. It’s just been a lot of fun to enjoy in the success of our season and to know it’s not done yet. It’s just getting started.”
Brian Snitker reiterated to SI exactly how special this clubhouse of guys really is and how special winning a 6th straight title really is. "It’s hard,” Snitker said. “But [these] guys never got caught up in any of the good, bad or indifferent that we had. They’re so consistent. They come to the ballpark every day and [try to] win that day’s game. I haven’t heard one guy talk about magic numbers, how many we’re ahead, all this and that, or if we were going bad or losing games in the standings, nothing. I never heard one guy talking about that. And all I heard them talk about was getting the ballpark and getting ready to play.”
Snitker even provided Anthopoulos some reassurances when injuries had the general manager worried. “I always tell [GM Alex Anthopoulos], ‘Don’t worry, because somebody’s gonna do something good or something special,’” said Snitker. “Their ‘keep going,’ I think, as a group, it’s too strong. I think that whatever we think we got going in there’s too strong.”
But rest assured, these guys aren't done. And they know that. “We’re gonna enjoy it today, tonight and probably tomorrow,” said outfielder Kevin Pillar, a veteran who has been to the playoffs multiple times, with both the Blue Jays and Dodgers. “And then we’re gonna get back to work.”
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