Ground balls were sure to kill the Braves eventually
Offensively, if there was anything to point to during the regular season that might become a postseason issue, ground balls looked like the most likely thing. Of course, pointing this out as an in-season issue would have garnered you confused looks considering the Braves had 307 home runs, more than 50 more than the No. 2 Los Angeles Dodgers.
Yet, the Braves were top-10 in ground ball rate. They were also fifth in times grounded into double plays, a stat that is slightly cherry-picked since you need to have runners on base in the first place to qualify, so it technically favors bad teams.
This series was taken away by Philly in the air and in Citizens Bank Park, where home runs can jump out of the field in an instant. Atlanta couldn't keep up with that pace in part because they had so many balls on the ground.
Here's how the launch angles looked on average, game-by-game:
Game | Phillies avg. launch angle | Braves avg. launch angle |
|---|---|---|
1 | -2.4% | 12.3% |
2 | 22.4% | 6.3% |
3 | 14.3% | 9.7% |
4 | 25.5% | 14.4% |
The Braves won the fly ball game in just Game 1, losing it in Games 3 and 4. The 10-2 game makes a lot more sense when you look at it this way...
They failed to get above 15 percent in even one game on average. Losing home field advantage and giving the Phils not only an energetic home crowd but also a favorable field for home runs when they were lifting balls out of the stratosphere was a massive disadvantage the Braves offense just couldn't pace with given their propensity for putting balls on the ground.
If the Braves want to get back, they have to address these issues.