{"id":62293,"date":"2023-09-15T14:38:15","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T18:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=62293"},"modified":"2023-09-15T14:38:15","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T18:38:15","slug":"snitker-led-braves-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/09\/15\/snitker-led-braves-division\/","title":{"rendered":"Snitker-led Braves Make it Six Straight Division Titles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Mainstay is the word that best describes both manager\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/snitkbr99.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.baseball-reference.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-09-14_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Brian Snitker<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and his Atlanta Braves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Braves clinched their sixth consecutive National League East crown on Wednesday with a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Braves became the first MLB team to lock up their division this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Although a repeat, Snitker imparted words of wisdom to his team: \u201cYou should enjoy every time you get a chance to do this. I told them, \u2018Don\u2019t forget how this feels\u2019 because it\u2019s an excellent feeling that lets you know your hard work is for something.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rileyau01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.baseball-reference.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-09-14_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Austin Riley<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0launched a two-run home run in the first (his 35th of the season) to give the Braves an early lead. Atlanta\u2019s\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngcy01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.baseball-reference.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-09-14_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Cy Young<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Award candidate\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/stridsp01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.baseball-reference.com&amp;utm_campaign=2023-09-14_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Spencer Strider<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0tossed seven innings, struck out nine, and allowed one run.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\u201cNow we\u2019re gonna be at the head of the table.\u201d \ud83c\udf7e\ud83c\udf7e\ud83c\udf7e <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5ctBlN0pk2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/5ctBlN0pk2<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Atlanta Braves (@Braves) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Braves\/status\/1702140218592096628?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 14, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Series Seekers<\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Obstacles Remain<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">They&#8217;re now set up for a postseason with home-field advantage in pursuit of their second World Series title in three years. But there are concerns.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">They might face the Phillies for a second straight year in the NL Division Series. That best-of-five series did not go well for the Braves last year.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The home-field could be hijacked by the Dodgers in the NL and the Orioles in the AL. Both are on the Braves&#8217; heels.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A combination of a Braves win and loss from one of those two teams puts Atlanta one step closer to home-field advantage throughout October.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">For the A<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Atlanta increased its MLB-best division title total to 23. This season matches their second-earliest clinch date. The 1995 club also sealed the NL East on Sept. 13, and the 2002 team clinched on Sept. 9.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Braves have seemingly made winning the East a rite of September since the 1990s. This year&#8217;s team looks loaded enough to win their third World Series since moving from Milwaukee to Atlanta. During that span, Atlanta won 11 straight NL East titles from 1995-2005 and the World Series in 1995 and 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Snitker the Brave<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Snitker, 67, has been part of the Braves organization in different roles since playing in their minor league organization from 1977 to 1980. In 1981, at age 25, Snitker retired as a player to become a coach in the Braves organization. And there he has remained, having toiled in the minors for years, even managing the Durham Bulls in 1987.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">He became Atlanta&#8217;s manager in 2016. Two years later, the run of division titles began.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The former minor league catcher is a subtle, knowledgeable baseball man loyal to the Atlanta organization for five decades. In return, the Braves rewarded him with MLB&#8217;s most talent-laden team.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Snitker is revered for his connection to players, handling numerous challenges in a way that kept them motivated and unified. The Braves manager oversees a veteran coaching staff and is supported by their front office management and its devotion to roster construction that has yielded\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/09\/01\/braves-national-league-standard\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">baseball&#8217;s most dominant team<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The sense around the Braves borrows from Snitker&#8217;s message to the team: an excellent feeling that lets you know your hard work is for something.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mainstay is the word that best describes both manager\u00a0Brian Snitker\u00a0and his Atlanta Braves. The Braves clinched their sixth consecutive National League East crown on Wednesday with a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Braves became the first MLB team to lock up their division this season. Although a repeat, Snitker [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4804,"featured_media":62302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,1071],"tags":[48,291],"class_list":["post-62293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-braves","category-mlb","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-brian-snitker"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4804"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}