Phillies players used Brian Snitker's first-round bye excuse as motivation this season

Arguably the best team in the majors in each of the last two MLB seasons entering the 2024 campaign had been the Atlanta Braves. Atlanta had won 100 or more games in both of those seasons, dominating the game in all facets.

Despite their regular season dominance, the Braves fell short in both postseasons, bowing out in the NLDS at the hands of their NL East rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies. Despite being the superior team in both regular seasons, Philadelphia had the upper hand in the postseason.

Rather than accept the defeats with grace, Braves manager Brian Snitker opted to make excuses, blaming the postseason format as the cause of Atlanta's misfortune. Those comments clearly did not sit well with Phillies players, as according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic and FOX, they used those comments as motivation in what has turned into a dominant season for them.

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Phillies players used Brian Snitker's lame excuse as motivation in breakout regular season

The Phillies believed Snitker's comments were demeaning, and it's hard to blame them.

“It’s hard to hit velocity when you haven’t seen anything in five days," Snitker said, h/t That Ball's Outta Here. "That’s my biggest thing. We had a team that set all these records and everything offensively, and we didn’t hit much in the postseason."

The Braves received a bye for winning the division. They got five extra days of rest and got to avoid the Wild Card Series entirely, which is something that 29 other teams would likely cherish. Instead of talking about how his players had a chance to be fully fresh for what they had hoped to be a long postseason run, Snitker threw out the excuse of his team being ill-prepared to hit velocity.

First of all, the Braves held postseason workouts in 2023 to give their players a chance to prepare. Second of all, even if they didn't, that's really the excuse you're going with, Brian?

At the end of the day, Atlanta's postseason failures are on them, and nobody else. Plus, the Phillies happen to be really good. Their rotation, especially in October, is arguably the best in the majors. The Braves put up great regular season numbers, but great pitching often trumps great hitting.

The Phillies wanted the extra rest, as every other team would, and are inching closer to their first NL East division title since 2011 and have as good of a chance as any NL team at getting a bye. There's a chance they'd win the division without Snitker's comments because of how good of a team that they are, but Snitker's comments undoubtedly gave them added motivation.

With how well they've played in October, it wouldn't be surprising at all to see the Phillies use the rest to their advantage and come out firing in the NLDS.