The Moonshot: Braves World Series chances, MLB heels and terrible jerseys

Well, we believe in exit velocity, bat flips, launch angles, stealing home, the hanging curveball, Big League Chew, sausage races, and that unwritten rules of any kind are self-indulgent, overrated crap. We believe Greg Maddux was an actual wizard. We believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment protecting minor league baseball and that pitch framing is both an art and a science. We believe in the sweet spot, making WARP not war, letting your closer chase a two-inning save, and we believe love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too.

Welcome to The Moonshot.

1. Explain how the Braves could still win it all, even without Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider.

Terrence Jordan: As a Mets fan, baseball seems perfectly engineered to steal as much happiness from me as possible, so as far as I’m concerned, the Braves could win it all by replacing Acuña and Strider with the first two fans to catch something from the t-shirt cannon. Seriously though, Atlanta won it all without Acuña three years ago, so even though losing the reigning MVP hurts, we have seen this story before. Strider is one of the best pitchers in baseball, but Chris Sale and Reynaldo Lopez have more than kept the rotation afloat. Marcell Ozuna has been raking, and even though Matt Olson and Austin Riley haven’t found their swings yet, the Braves still have the third-best record in the National League. They’ll be heard from before it’s all said and done.

Robert Murray: The rest of the Braves’ offense — Matt Olson, Austin Riley, Sean Murphy, Marcell Ozuna, Michael Harris II, among others — all step up. Jarred Kelenic, who is hitting .254/.298/.377 with three home runs in 122 at-bats, emerges and starts looking more like the top prospect he once was. It will take a collective effort from the entire Braves roster to get back to the World Series. But one thing to watch in the coming weeks is the possibility of general manager Alex Anthopoulos making a trade. He is one of baseball’s most aggressive executives and with two glaring needs in the rotation and the outfield, a trade would not be a surprise. But word is, the Braves will try their internal options in the outfield before considering a trade. And considering the call-up of top prospect Spencer Schwellenbach, it would appear the team is thinking the same thing for the rotation.

Cody Williams: Terrence and Robert really get to the heart of what I think is the most impressive part for the Braves. This team isn’t just Ronald Acuña Jr., something which they proved in 2021 and have actually improved the rest of the roster since. Yes, there is a feeling right now — and perhaps deservedly so — that Atlanta is snake-bitten and that’s never anything close to comforting. But this is a team with the third-best mark in the NL while they’ve not had Sean Murphy most of the year, while Spencer Strider has almost wholly been out of the rotation, and while Matt Olson and Austin Riley are playing pretty close to their floors. The Braves will be fine, and the moves to acquire Chris Sale and Reynaldo Lopez this offseason look that much more crucial to their plight. 

Zachary Rotman: Seemingly everything has gone wrong for the Braves this season, and Acuña’s injury is just the latest example. Acuña is done for the year. Strider is done for the year. Matt Olson, Austin Riley, Michael Harris II, and Ozzie Albies have all significantly underperformed. Charlie Morton and Max Fried have had their ups and downs (even with Fried’s recent dominance). The Braves have struggled to find a No. 5 starter. Despite all of that, Atlanta’s 31-22 record is the third-best in the National League only behind the Phillies and Dodgers. Their offense has struggled for most of the season but will almost certainly turn it around when their stars get going. Their rotation has been excellent even without Strider thanks to the additions of Chris Sale and Reynaldo Lopez. Their bullpen has always been an underrated strength. Alex Anthopoulos will almost certainly address whatever weakness(es) they have at the trade deadline. They’ll be more than fine and are still right in the thick of World Series contention. Perhaps a bit of adversity like what they faced in 2021 when they won without Acuña is what the Braves need.

2. With Ángel Hernández retiring, who takes over as MLB’s biggest heel?

Terrence Jordan: What if I told you that MLB’s biggest heel has always been Scott Boras? As we wrote about this week, the most prolific agent in baseball has severely damaged his credibility after this past offseason’s free-agency fiasco. Blake Snell has been abysmal after signing late with the Giants, and he not-so-subtly threw Boras under the bus after his most recent subpar outing. Jordan Montgomery dropped him altogether. Boras represents Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Corbin Burnes, all of whom are slated to be free agents this upcoming offseason, so like it or not, the agent that fans and front offices love to hate will be back in the spotlight in a big way.

Cody Williams: I probably spent a little too long pondering this question and the “why” behind Angel Hernandez’s villain role but, alas, here are my conclusions. The biggest reason Hernandez was reviled, in my opinion, was the inescapable feeling of fighting uphill whenever he was on the field, particularly behind the plate. Teams and fans alike understood and hated that the game was almost surely not going to be called correctly and that would create hardships over nine innings. For me, the next best thing we have now in baseball for that is the Dodgers. No team is apparently willing to spend like LA and the result is a team and lineup that just doesn’t offer a respite. 1-to-9 in the lineup are all dangerous, their rotation and bullpen can be shut down at any moment, and there just isn’t any relief. That creates that same uphill climb that Hernandez forced us as fans to familiarize ourselves with. The only difference is that the Dodgers are good at their job, which makes them the villains, while Hernández actively failing at his job was behind his villainous behavior. 

Zachary Rotman: I could not agree more with Cody here. The Dodgers made themselves the villain when they had their historically great offseason and all they’ve done since then is reinforce that. They haven’t even hit their stride yet and are dealing with a myriad of injuries yet they’re 36-22 after sweeping the Mets. The top six in their lineup, when healthy, is impossible to pitch to. Their rotation, when healthy, is impossible to hit. Their bullpen is great too. The Dodgers are what we always thought they were. One of, if not the best team in the league, and the clear villains.

3. Where do the Blue Jays’ new City Connect atrocities rank among the worst jerseys in baseball?

Terrence Jordan: The timing of the leak hurts the public’s perception of these. The Tigers just recently debuted their own black and blue threads, so it seems like the Blue Jays just sent an underqualified spy over the Ambassador Bridge and called it a day. Call me crazy, though, but as far as City Connect jerseys go, these are closer to the middle of the pack than the worst in the league. That dubious honor belongs to the Red Sox and Phillies, whose inane color schemes are too jarring to take seriously. 

Robert Murray: Are we sure those were the actual Toronto Blue Jays City Connect jerseys that were leaked? If so, yikes. They are bad. Like, bad bad. I’m going to take a harsher stance than Terrence here and call them one of the worst jerseys in baseball. But again: I’m still skeptical that those are the actual jerseys. They can’t be … right?

Cody Williams: There have been some rumblings that these aren’t the Blue Jays’ City Connect jerseys, as Robert alluded to. Being a cynic by nature, though, I do wonder if they were supposed to be the uniforms but the backlash to the leaks has been so unbearably awful that they are pivoting on the fly. In any case, the jerseys we saw are truly among the worst across the four major North American sports. Thanks for putting Clip Art on the jerseys, Fanatics and Nike. Maybe they should’ve asked the Microsoft paper clip for help with the design. 

Zachary Rotman: I’m actually going to agree with Terrence here. They’re bad, don’t get me wrong, but when looking at other uniforms that have been released just in this City Connect program alone, they’re not in the bottom five. Hopefully, the leaked uniforms aren’t what we see when they’re finally revealed, but if they are, Jays fans can have some solace in the fact that it could’ve been worse. Not much worse, but it could’ve been worse.