Though we’re weeks past Memorial Day, a holiday often referred to as an unofficial first checkpoint in baseball’s marathon season, there are obviously still so many big-picture MLB storylines that have yet to resolve.
Has the clock already struck midnight on the playoff hopes for the underachieving Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox? It’s a long season but the deck is stacked against both clubs. Were we treated to a World Series preview last weekend? Let’s tackle that notion and a few other topics in this week’s “Fact or Fiction.”
The Braves and Red Sox will both miss the playoffs
Verdict: Fact
The Braves, owners of seven straight postseason appearances, and the Red Sox, who seemed to make the most impactful upgrades this offseason (Garret Crochet, Alex Bregman), entered the season projected to be among the best teams in their respective leagues. Things haven’t exactly played out that way.
Atlanta started off 0–7 and just endured another seven-game losing streak. Its seemingly strong lineup has slumped its way to the bottom half of baseball’s rankings in terms of runs scored.
Boston, meanwhile, has a championship-caliber offense but one of the worst starting rotations in baseball. What would they do without Crochet?
The Red Sox and, especially, the Braves, who went from under .500 for half of the season to a championship in 2021, can look to success stories of teams that endured similar struggles and turned things around en route to the postseason. Plus, both teams have star power and World Series-winning managers in their dugouts.
But they both may have dug themselves in a hole that’s too deep to crawl out of. Baseball Reference gives the Red Sox a 16% chance to make the playoffs. Atlanta checks in at 9.2%. FanGraphs is more optimistic for both (Braves 26.9%, Red Sox 18.3%), but the odds are stacked against both clubs no matter where you look.
