Jorge Soler destroyed that baseball.
***
What Happened
Max Fried dealt. Soler demolished. Dansby Swanson and Freddie Freeman chipped in. It was a mix of stars and role players, veterans and young talent, stealthy acquisitions and franchise cornerstones. It was very 2021 Atlanta baseball.
Plenty has been said about the championship, and it’s better than I can offer, but I’d like to give some credit to Brian Snitker for evidently being so adaptable over the course of his career. Baseball’s changed a lot since Snitker’s been in the game. His management over this series, and over the postseason as a whole, reflected that change. Managers often get too much credit, but in the case of Snitker, I’m not sure enough good things have been said about his work this year. From the soft stuff—getting the team to keep competing in July when they were below .500 and lost Ronald Acuña Jr.—to the practical—pulling Fried when he did rather than risk something silly for the sake of romanticism—Snitker nailed it. Good for him. Good for Atlanta.
The Heroes
Win Probability Added leaders, from FanGraphs:
- Soler (0.27)
- Fried (0.23)
Other Notes
- Atlanta’s pitchers didn’t walk a single batter, striking out ten over the course of the shutout.
- Michael Brantley was the only Astro to reach base twice. The Astros had no extra-base hits, and only Yordan Alvarez’s seventh-inning single was hit harder than 104 mph.
- For Atlanta, Soler reached base twice, once with the monstrous home run. Freeman had a double to go with his long ball. Ozzie Albies was on three times from his lower spot than usual in the order.
***
More, on both this postseason and the coming offseason, soon.
