Braves Win Their Second Championship in Three Years

One year after bailing out of the playoffs in the first round, the Braves had a renewed hunger headed into the 2024 season. After returning a similar roster of Dragons and SABL vets, expectations of a championship loomed over a roster with a large range of outcomes (championship in '22, first round exit in '23). Every regular season game was an opportunity for improvement and the Braves didn't take a single game lightly. They started out 8-1 and finished 21-8-1 to take home the #1 seed for the first time since 2015.

After sweeping the Angels in the first round, the Braves were pushed to the limit in a semi-finals matchup against the Cardinals. After going up 2-1 in the series, the Cardinals forced a win-or-go-home game five. In the final game, Ian Okorofsky produced his second complete game performance with only one run allowed in the series, mirroring his game two statline.

Driven by their pitching the whole year, the Braves posted a league-leading 3.24 ERA that dropped to 2.79 in the playoffs. That ERA mainly came from a three man rotation of Matt Houle (28 IP, 2.50 ERA 3 CG in playoffs), Okorofsky (41 IP, 33 K, 3.02 ERA in regular season) and Noah Lashley (37 IP, 5-1 record, 2.84 ERA in regular season).

The Braves received contributions from SABL newcomer Eli Silverstone (.466 AVG, 4 doubles in series) and a huge game five from Chad Simone going 3-3 and driving in four runs as the Braves headed to the finals.

The matchup: The defending champion Royals. The Braves threw the first punch, hitting five home runs on their way to winning game one 23-1. The Royals bounced back later that afternoon on a walkoff win to tie it up. Headed into a Thursday night tie-breaker under the Wishing Well lights, the Braves played a clean enough game to pull out the 6-3 win.

The final game was a tense affair with both squads worried about making the final mistake. With the Royals leading 3-1, the final innings of game four were a microcosm of the Braves season. Never panicking, the Braves turned to coaches and members of the Braves for over a decade, Dexter Sargeant and Jason Forbes to start the game-winning rally. Forbes walked to start off the inning, a regularity for the man who led the league in that stat. Sargeant got hit by a pitch, just one of the many bumps and bruises he dealt with as the Braves catcher. A sac fly and wild pitch scored the coaches to tie it up at 3. Bryan Todes and his one healthy knee started the rally back up as he legged out an infield hit before surprising everyone and stealing second. RBI machine Anthony Colin didn't waste his chance as he roasted a ball to left field to score Todes and the game winning run.

The championship series was Houle's turn to put the Braves on his back. Houle posted almost identical stat lines to Okorofsky's Cardinals series, also turning in two complete game starts with only allowing 1 run in each. Models of consistency, Tim March posted a .538 batting average and scored 5 runs for the Braves in the finals while Colm Blaney smelled blood in the water and went 5 for 6 in the final two games to close it out.

All season long, the Braves offense didn't fall far behind the pitching, consistently getting production top from bottom. Silverstone (.444 AVG, 21 SB) and March (.500 AVG, 1.271 OPS) set the tone at the top of the lineup by getting on base and using their speed. Following them was a murderers' row of lefty bats. Blaney, Simone and Colin all ranked top 10 in RBI's while only striking out a combined 9 times in 195 AB's.

Sophomore stud Gabe Cheddie posted his second consecutive OPS over 1.000 (1.044) while Rob Hehir (.981 OPS, 2 HR) and Andre Steer's (.464 OBP, 12 RBI) leadership and defense were invaluable. Taka Saito and Stefan Popovic played crucial roles for the Braves throughout the regular season but unfortunately weren't able to play in this year's playoffs.

Toughness, togetherness and a teamwide goal shared by every member of the roster, the Braves achieved their ultimate goal.

Now the focus goes to 2025.