Mark Melancon thanks Braves fans for support despite tough end to season

The Atlanta Braves relief pitcher thanked the fans after they were eliminated by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS.

A 3-1 lead. The Atlanta Braves were just one win away from reaching the World Series for the first-time since 1999, but they dropped the last three games of the NLCS to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Despite their impressive regular-season and their dominant run through the Wild Card and Division Series’, they just couldn’t close things out, only adding to the misery Atlanta sports fans have dealt with for decades.

Many Braves players are still grieving their soul-crushing elimination, but relief pitcher Mark Melancon sent out a thank you message to the fanbase on Twitter on Monday. Even though they didn’t get the desired end result, Melancon wanted to express his gratitude to the city of Atlanta for welcoming him with open arms in 2019.

Melancon is an unrestricted free agent this winter

At last season’s trade deadline, the Braves were looking to bolster the back of their bullpen prior to their impending postseason run. So, they managed to acquire Melancon from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for pitchers Tristan Beck and Dan Winkler. Melancon was in the middle of his third season under the four-year, $62 million deal he signed with the Giants prior to the 2017 season.

Through two regular-seasons with the Braves, Melancon accumulated a 3.30 ERA and 22 saves through 43.2 innings pitched in 46 games. While those numbers were good, Melancon put those to shame in the postseason. In seven playoff appearances, the veteran reliever only allowed two hits and zero earned runs, giving him the always great 0.00 ERA! Sadly, his stellar performance just wasn’t enough to vault the Braves into the World Series.

Whatever the future may hold for Melancon, he just wanted to let the loyal Braves fans know that he cherished his time in Atlanta and he will never forget it.