By Rosie Harper
The Braves 2022 MLB season kicks off on April 7 and, to be honest, I’m pumped about it. Here’s 10 things about this season that I am excited about and that you should be excited about, too.
The victory tour. We won the World Series last year. And I cannot wait to celebrate that title every single home game. The ring ceremony. The raising of the championship banner. The postseason highlight reels on the big screen. The PSA announcer dramatically screaming, “Braves country, give it up for YOUR 2021 World Champions!!” It will basically be 81 (home game) parties. And I’m here for it.
Acuña. Acuña. Acuña. The most electric player in baseball is coming back. The lightning bolt in our lineup is coming back. He’s even stronger than he was pre-injury (look at the Instagram workout videos- he is totally shredded). I can’t wait to have the king back and, honestly, I expect him to be the best player in baseball this season. MVP might be out of reach, due to the fact that he won’t play until about May 1, but still look for some ridiculous performances from #13. (And we get the Acuña-Ozzie bromance back? Let’s go.)
The bullpen. The Night Shift was legendary last October, and they got significantly better this offseason with the additions of Collin McHugh and Kenley Jansen. This bullpen is going to be one of the deepest in the league and probably the best.
Matt Olson. I won’t pretend like the whole Freddie Freeman thing didn’t happen. It did. And I won’t pretend like it doesn’t hurt. It does. But Matt Olson is an exceptional first baseman. He has more Gold Gloves than Freddie and a lot more power. A lot. Plus he’s going to be in a more hitter-friendly park. Put Olson down for launching approximately a million homers into the Chop House.
Ron Washington. It’s the small things, okay? I was convinced that Wash would leave during the offseason to manage either the Padres or Cardinals. He is definitely deserving of a managerial position. But I adore this dude and I am so pumped that he’s back to dance with us again.
The predictions. Somehow the team that has won more division titles than any other team in history is never picked by the “experts” to [checks notes] win their division. I can’t wait to prove all the analysts at ESPN and MLB Network wrong. The East belongs to Atlanta.
The division race. Speaking of the East, it’s going to be an exciting division race this season. And when I say exciting, I really mean messy, because that’s what the East is…messy. All five teams have elite players and are capable of winning games, and yet somehow at least two teams always end up being a dumpster fire and at least one team always collapses down the stretch (cough, cough, Mets). No matter how things shake out….it will be good TV.
I’m counting down the minutes until Opening Day because, truthfully? I think the Braves can run it back. Let’s just win another World Series this year.
Seems like a good plan.
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