Now, the sprint

Editor's Note - With this being the start of MLB's Postseason, #CoachJeff will be all baseball/all the time for this week's editions. Monday-Thursday devoted to baseball. Next week, we'll resume our regular format and schedule. 

First comes the marathon. Now, the sprint.

The Atlanta Braves closed out the 2026 regular season yesterday in South Florida with an uninspiring 5-3 loss to the Marlins. In fact all of the last week after they clinched was mostly uninspiring as they rested players and lined up pitching.

The 162 MLB season is a grind and, let's be honest, none of the pre-season pundits gave the Braves much of a chance to beat either the Phillies or the Mets to win the National League Eastern Division title. 

But they did just that.

Along the way, they faced many obstacles, injuries, slumps, etc. But under the steady hand of manager Walt Weiss, the Braves took the division lead early in April and never relinquished it. 

Tomorrow, postseason begins. You trade that 162 game grind for a frenetic finish. The MLB Playoffs, in recent years, have become a showcase for the hottest team rather than the best team. The Braves' September was neither hot nor best. I'd say "steady" as a fitting description save for the four of seven games they beat Philly.

So, can they hold off the likes of the Padres (hot) or Dodgers/Brewers (best) to make it to the World Series?

They'll take the first step tomorrow when they welcome their division rivals to Truist Park for the NL Wild Card Series.

That's right. After basically leading the division wire to wire, winning the N.L. East by six games and taking the season series from Philadelphia 9 games to 4, the Braves' grand reward is...drumroll...a best two out of three series against the selfsame Phillies. 

Gee, thanks. And what's more, as has become customary during this recent run, the Braves get stuck wtih the dreaded 2 p.m. start time (at least for Games One-Two). Networks love that flyover country!

Ahem.

If the MLB regular season tests your depth and grit, the postseason is often a coin flip that can turn on a botched base running play (1991), a hanging slider (1996), a bad umpire call (2012) or a first inning starting pitcher implosion (2019). I know cuz I was there.

But for the yin there can also be the yang. Braves Country celebrated mightily in 1995 and 2021. And so, here we are again on the precipice of another postseason. Will it be a prolonged run or a quick conclusion?

Of the four possible first round match-ups that materialized down the homestretch, this is the one Braves Country dreaded the most and hoped wouldn't happen. And yet, here we are. So, like the childhood nursery rhyme goes - can't go over it, can't go under it, gotta go through it.

Despite the Phillies' September slide, many prognosticators are not bullish on the Braves. Some, if not most, are picking Philly again. Just like during the pre-season.

I hope the Braves media relations staff is compiling those clips and that the Division Champs are reading the bulletin board material.

JG