Live from the Braves: There’s a wild card to be clinched
This is how it ended last season. It should go better this time. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
Three hundred sixty-three days after they last took the field with a chance to make the playoffs, the Braves are here again. The night of Sept. 28, 2011, went badly: They lost 4-3 to Philadelphia in 13 innings while the Cardinals were winning 8-0 in Houston, and the Braves went nowhere but home.
There’s reason to believe tonight will yield a better return. Kris Medlen is pitching, and the Braves haven’t lost a game he has started since May 23, 2010. The opponent is Miami, which quit on the season long ago and is apparently trying to decide who to fire when. But this is baseball, and as the famous philosopher/pitcher Joaquin Andujar once noted: “There is one word in America that says it all, and that word is ‘you never know.’ ”
The magic number for clinching a wild card is down to 1, so even if the Braves lose the deed would be done should both the Brewers and Dodgers lose. (The former is playing in Cincinnati, the latter in San Diego.) But the Braves would like to be able to have their champagne party — that’s correct; even the wild card is occasion to break out the bubbly — without having to wait around until 1 a.m.
Whatever happens, I’d appreciate your company as the night unfolds. And I’d also ask a favor: In between innings, click over and watch my little video chat with Noah Coslov of CineSport. It concerns the Braves, oddly enough, and we do like it when y’all watch our videos.
As ever, I thank you in advance.
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187 comments Add your comment
Ken Stallings
September 25th, 2012
9:48 pm
By his team picking him up, Kris Medlen did not earn the win, but he certainly kept his team in it so they could earn the win. With that result, Medlen now ties Whitey Ford and Carl Hubbel at 22 consecutive team victories when starting the game, and that is for the all-time mark in baseball history!
Gene
September 25th, 2012
9:49 pm
Great win, worthy of 1991.
who cares
September 25th, 2012
9:50 pm
u fans were nowhere going to bottom of the 9th
no u come out of the woodwork
losers
RW
September 25th, 2012
9:51 pm
Ken, thanks for the stat. That’s quite the company Medlen is in. Time to get a Medlen jersey along with my maddux, glavine, smoltz!
Bronkelliott
September 25th, 2012
9:52 pm
Hurray
ER Steven
September 25th, 2012
9:54 pm
I don’t know about you but this year is starting to feel a little special. I really like our chances against St. Louis if thats who we face in the WC game. They have really been scuffling and we owe them some payback. Then we get the first two games at home in the divisional round, I think that might give us an advantage if we go up 2-0 and have Med pitching to clinch in Washington. Then its on to 7 game rounds and anything can happen. I believe Braves!!!!
Quack Quack
September 25th, 2012
9:54 pm
What a way to clinch. Congrats to Chipper, one to remember, and the first walk off homer for the “Beast” Freeman!!
“It ain’t over til it’s over.” Yogi Berra.
GO BRAVES!!!
kral
September 25th, 2012
9:54 pm
For those of you that they should not celebrate…kiss it..it was beautiful to me
Sick & Tired Of Being Sick & Tired
September 25th, 2012
9:54 pm
Now that was a dramatic comeback. Kuddos to the Braves!!!!
jo
September 25th, 2012
9:55 pm
Nice job, gives us hope!
Ken Stallings
September 25th, 2012
9:57 pm
Four games to make up over eight to play is certainly a tall order, but it is certainly possible and a worthy goal. The good news is that the rotation is already set up for Medlen to either start game one of the NLDS or the Wild Card game and so the rotation just needs to keep on trucking! Now, it would be sweet if Hanson could pitch a gem his next time up and keep the ball rolling.
Paul Maholm gets the start tomorrow night and the Braves are going to be full of momentum.
I say, let’s do unto others as was done unto us last year!
Meddog
September 25th, 2012
10:00 pm
Unbelievable! Love the ‘91 reference Gene. This team IS special!
jo
September 25th, 2012
10:00 pm
I was following this game all the way from Rio de Janeiro, glad I did
tmc
September 25th, 2012
10:02 pm
loved seeing Dan Uggla started jumping up and down as soon as FF hit the shot and didn’t stop jumping until after the celebration at home plate!
Awesome, way to go FF, Chipper and the rest of the Braves!
DaveinNEPA
September 25th, 2012
10:02 pm
Great team effort tonight. Freddie actually brought me out of my hair with that bomb. What a way to clinch a postseason berth.
Big Dawg
September 25th, 2012
10:09 pm
When we beat the Cardinals in the wild card game, who will we play in the first round?
ACE
September 25th, 2012
10:10 pm
Thank you Mark for a good night of blogging and to the braves for another postseason.
ACE
September 25th, 2012
10:11 pm
Yessssssssssssssssssss
Big Dawg
September 25th, 2012
10:11 pm
Shelby Dawkins………where u at? Bahahahaha Braves win! U loser
ChipperisGod
September 25th, 2012
10:12 pm
FREDDIE, FREDDIE, FREDDIE, FREDDIE, FREDDIE!!!!!!!!!!!! ALL THE WAY!!!!
Big Dawg
September 25th, 2012
10:16 pm
Chop Chop………go away with ur loser mentality………u damn loser! Bravos win. Yee haw lol
Steve
September 25th, 2012
10:21 pm
Am I the only one not that excited about a 1 game playoff? I mean, I’d rather be in it this way than not at all but….1 game??? Let’s win that one and then really celebrate!
Norwegian Blue
September 25th, 2012
10:22 pm
Wow! What a great season. Chipper, Freeman, Medlen, Kimbrel. Whatever happens in the playoffs, this is officially my 3rd favorite Braves season, behind ‘91 (I attended game 3 of the NL series against the Pirates and it was so electric) and ‘96 (attended WS game 6 in Atlanta- Glavine, Justice, crazy downtown streets post-game and a loooooong drive home). Despite all the post-season disappointment over the years, it’s pretty good to be a Braves fan…
Matt
September 25th, 2012
10:23 pm
Such a perfect way to clinch. Freddi made the last out last year, and this year he hit the bomb that put us in the playoffs! Last year we lost 4-3 in the last game, this year we win our playoff-clincher by the same score. I like these signs!
Ken Stallings
September 25th, 2012
10:26 pm
Braves are going to have to do their own dirty work this week as the Astros aren’t going to help with the magic number over the Cards! The Cards scored again in the top of the eighth to make it 3-0, and they have runners on the corners and looking to add more!
The good news is that the Braves are taking care of their own business and at this point, with the magic number at three with eight games to play, it’s looking real good for the Braves to at least have the home field advantage in the Wild Card game if not pull off the immortal and catch the Nats for the division.
Patrick Romano, GO BRAVES
September 25th, 2012
10:28 pm
Great finish to clinch a playOff birth. Way to go CHipper & Freddie Freeman. Walk Off 428′ Golf Shot, I love it!!!
Keep it up and win the pennant!!! It Could happen 4/8… Win four in a row and Nationals lose 4 in a row!
Ken Stallings
September 25th, 2012
10:28 pm
The Wild Card winner will play the team with the best record in the league. That is going to be either Washington or Cincinnati.
Mark Bradley
September 25th, 2012
10:29 pm
Here’s the game column, if you’re inclined.
Big Crimson 75
September 25th, 2012
10:31 pm
Can’t win the World Series unless your in the Playoffs!!
If we can only win 1 game against the Cards, this Team can beat Washington.
Let’s go Braves!!
A year after an epic collapse, the Braves offer an epic clinch | Mark Bradley
September 25th, 2012
10:34 pm
[...] The setting seemed ripe for clinching. Kris Medlen was starting, and the Braves hadn’t lost a Medlen start since May 23, 2010. The opponent was Miami, which gave up on the season a while back and is now sitting around deciding whom to fire. Give the Marlins credit, though. On this night they looked like a real team. [...]
Bradley Curse
September 25th, 2012
10:35 pm
“AJC Breaking News: Braves beat Marlins, clinch playoff spot”
true statement but also deceptive at the same time. MLB needs to come up with a name for these games since it’s not the “playoffs” per se but rather a “playoff for the playoffs”. Sooo maybe …..
“Braves clinch a spot in Sudden Death”???? “Sudden Death Playoff”? Eh needs some work
ACE
September 25th, 2012
10:37 pm
Kudos for the gamer
BaseballTopFan
September 25th, 2012
10:40 pm
Baseball Top Fan and baseball fans across the world anxiously await the start of the Major League Baseball (MLB) playoffs.
Congratulations to the Atlanta Braves on their return to the playoffs.
We wish the team and Chipper Jones good luck.
BaseballTopFan@Yahoo.com
Bronkelliott
September 25th, 2012
10:40 pm
I’m loving it!
ACE
September 25th, 2012
10:43 pm
The heat check should read on fire. The Falcons, Dawgs and Braves.
bulldogbubba
September 25th, 2012
11:03 pm
To Stinger2 if your out there.I was wrong the Braves did make it to the playoff game.Now will they get to the show? GO BRAVES!!!!!!!!!!!
Stinger 2
September 26th, 2012
5:22 am
bulldogbubba: No need to apoligize. We all are wrong sometimes. Lets just hope that step 1 last night will lead to better places for the Braves. If not, so be it. The Braves will still be my team.