Tag Archives: Atlanta Braves

Grading Every MLB Team’s 2024 Offseason (20-11): Part II

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Josh Hader signing: All-Star closer in tow, the Astros gear up for their own Last Dance - DraftKings Network

Caption: New Houston Astros closer Josh Hader pitching

By Sam Morris

Sam Morris is from Madison Heights, Michigan, and is an undergraduate student at BGSU majoring in Sports Management. He has a passion for sports writing and journalism. In his free time, he also performs, writes, and produces his own raps for the music industry club at BGSU.

March 15, 2024

20. Milwaukee Brewers   (C)

Milwaukee Brewers Unveil New Logo and Uniforms | Ballpark Digest

Major Additions

  • 1B Rhys Hoskins
  • RP DL Hall
  • C Gary Sanchez
  • SP Jakob Junis
  • INF Joey Ortiz

On one hand, the Brewers acquired a few good players on the free agent market this offseason to help their offensive struggles. On the other hand, they lost their top three rotation pieces and 4 of their best offensive weapons, which I think results in an overall net loss. Ace pitcher Corbin Burnes is now an Oriole, Brandon Woodruff is a free agent, and Adrian Houser signed with the Mets. These are obviously huge losses but Milwaukee couldn’t avoid them leaving and they ended up getting a decent haul back with Jakob Junis from San Francisco and reliever DL Hall from Baltimore. Offensively, they lost Carlos Santana and Rowdy Tellez but picked up Rhys Hoskins from Philadelphia which will be a significant defensive and more consistent offensive upgrade at first base. Mark Cahna is now a Detroit Tiger and Jesse Winker is now with the Washington Nationals so the Brewers’ outfield is also depleted. To combat this, the top prospect in their organization, Jackson Chourio, will likely slide into the outfield at some point during the season. Overall, the Brewers will likely take a huge step back this year after winning the division last season but can easily get back on top in a year or two with the additions and prospects that they’ve acquired.

19. Texas Rangers   (C)

Texas Rangers Logo and symbol, meaning, history, PNG, brand

Major Additions

  • RP Kirby Yates
  • RP David Robertson

Fresh off their first-ever World Series title, Texas loses some significant players from their roster including catcher Mitch Garver, starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery, and relievers Will Smith and Aroldis Chapman. The Rangers did a great job at replacing their relief pitching losses by getting Kirby Yates from the Braves and David Robertson from the Marlins. They have top pitching prospects Jack Leiter, Kumar Rocker, and Brock Porter in their farm system but they are far away from being ready for MLB, and adding another starting pitcher to their veteran pitching staff this offseason would have been helpful with Montgomery gone.

18. Oakland A’s   (C)

Oakland A's team name origin

Major Additions

  • SP Ross Stripling
  • SP Alex Wood
  • INF Abraham Toro
  • OF Miguel Andujar

The A’s were definitely the worst team last year but they made minor improvements with their pickups in the offseason. They are still very much in a rebuild and can’t afford big free agents so the Toro and Andujar signings were about the best they could do for offense. Both players are relatively consistent hitters who could also give a little pop to the top of the A’s lineup. While Wood and Stripling aren’t household names, they will be much more reliable 3rd and 4th starters than Trevor May and James Kaprielian were. The A’s also didn’t lose many players and slide towards the middle of the rankings with a solid C because the players they got won’t help them get significantly better right away.

17. Cincinnati Reds   (C+)

File:Cincinnati Reds Cap Insignia.svg - Wikipedia

Major Additions

  • 3B Jeimer Candelario
  • SP/RP Nick Martinez
  • RP Emilio Pagan
  • RP Frankie Montas

Similar to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati is notorious for spending very little money on free agents in the offseason. This season was a little different as they paid for 4 major additions to the team. The young Reds pitching staff and talented prospects in the Reds infield will be bolstered by veteran corner infielder Jeimer Candelario and the relief pitching staff will get huge boosts from Martinez, Pagan, and Montas. In my opinion, the biggest fault for this Reds’ offseason was that they overpaid for the quality of the players they were getting instead of making one huge free-agent splash that could have helped them more in the future seasons.

16. Kansas City Royals   (C+)

File:Kansas City Royals Insignia.svg - Wikipedia

Major Additions

  • CP Will Smith
  • RP Seth Lugo
  • 2B Adam Frazier
  • SP Michael Wacha
  • OF Hunter Renfroe
  • MI Garrett Hampson
  • SP Chris Stratton

The Royals have had one of the sneakiest good off-seasons. They lost franchise legend Zack Greinke to free agency but he is the only starter who has been removed. Meanwhile, on the additions side they have significantly improved their poor pitching staff with veteran starters Michael Wacha and Chris Stratton and top tier relievers Seth Lugo and Will Smith. Adam Frazier will also pair well defensively with Bobby Witt Jr. in the middle infield and Garrett Hampson is another defensive presence that could add infield depth. Lastly, Hunter Renfroe will help provide some pop in the middle of the lineup. Going forward, the Royals will have to figure out a way to blend these off-season veteran additions with the young prospects that they’ve acquired over the past few seasons.

15. St. Louis Cardinals   (B-)

File:St. Louis Cardinals insignia logo.svg - Wikipedia

Major Additions

  • SP Sonny Gray
  • SP Lance Lynn
  • SP Kyle Gibson
  • SS Brandon Crawford
  • RP Andrew Kittredge

St Louis had one of the worst pitching staffs in the league last season and they made it a top priority in the offseason to improve it. Adding Gray from Minnesota, Gibson from Baltimore, and Lynn from Los Angeles (Dodgers) gives them a much improved starting rotation along with Miles Mikolas and Drew Rom. They have also gained a quality relief pitcher from the Rays in Andrew Kittredge and a veteran presence for the young offense to turn to in 3-time World Series champion shortstop Brandon Crawford. The Cardinals only lost Adam Wainwright to retirement and Tyler O’Neill to Boston this offseason. Wainwright was 40-years-old and would likely not have been as productive anymore; and as good as O’Neill can be, he was slumping last year and had a horrible relationship with the St Louis front office. While the pitching staff is way better now, another problem is that they are all over 34 years old, making another pitching rebuild inevitable in the near future for St. Louis.

14. Atlanta Braves   (B-)

Atlanta Braves - Wikipedia

Major Additions

  • SP Chris Sale
  • OF Jarred Kelenic
  • RP Reynaldo Lopez

The Braves have one of the best rosters in MLB so there’s not much else they needed to get this off-season, but they are betting on players who had unique situations last year. First, they got Boston’s starting pitcher Chris Sale who was one of the best pitchers in the league throughout the mid-2010s but has been battling numerous arm injuries over the past 3 seasons with Chicago and Boston. He is reported to be fully healthy for the first time since 2020 and will be needed as a 5th starter with Michael Soroka now on the White Sox. Second, they are taking a flyer on former top Mariners’ prospect, outfielder Jarred Kelenic, who will replace Eddie Rosario in the outfield depth chart. Atlanta hopes he begins to fulfill his original hype as a prospect. The flame-throwing Reynaldo Lopez will also be sufficient in replacing Kirby Yates at the back end of the bullpen. The Braves had a solid offseason but can’t move into the top 10 on this list without a major star signing like some of the other National League playoff teams did.

13. Boston Red Sox   (B-)

Boston Red Sox Logo PNG Transparent & SVG Vector - Freebie Supply | Boston red sox logo, Red sox logo, Red sox

Major Additions

  • SP Lucas Giolito
  • OF Tyler O’Neill
  • 2B Vaughn Grissom
  • CP Liam Hendricks

The Red Sox made some major moves this offseason to help better their position in the gauntlet of the AL East. First, they signed former White Sox/Angels starting pitcher Lucas Giolito who would likely have been their number 1 or 2 pitcher until having Tommy John this past week. They lost Sale and James Paxton but Giolito would be much better at this stage of his career than both of them. Boston also gained the second-best relief pitcher on the free agent market in Liam Hendricks which means they will likely cut Kenley Jansen which could potentially open them up to signing Jordan Montgomery or Blake Snell as another free agent bonus to their pitching staff. Boston also lost DH Justin Turner and outfielders, Alex Verdugo and Adam Duvall. To combat this loss they signed Tyler O’Neill from the aforementioned Cardinals. O’Neill has struggled hitting for average the last couple of seasons but this could be a product of the poor relationship with the St Louis management and the clear lack of effort that O’Neill gave as a result, similar to the James Harden situation. If Boston can get him to play like he did in 2021 when he hit .286 with 35 home runs and 80 RBI’s, then they will have yet another power bat in a lineup with an already powerful top half. The weakest spot for Boston last season was 2nd base where Emmanuel Valdez played a mediocre defense and a sub-par offense. With Trevor Story moving to shortstop after the Xander Bogaerts’ trade to San Diego, former Brave Vaughn Grissom will likely slide into the second base spot. Grissom is only 23 and has a lot of upside to be an everyday player for the Red Sox in the future. Overall, Boston had an above-average offseason but didn’t hit on a huge free agent like the top two AL East teams did.

12. Houston Astros   (B)

File:Houston Astros cap logo.svg - Wikipedia

Major Additions

  • CP Josh Hader

Houston didn’t make many moves this offseason, but the one they did was giant as they signed the most dominant closer in MLB, Josh Hader, to a 5-year deal. Hader actually started his career with the Houston minor league system but never reached the majors with them before being traded to the Brewers for a package deal that included former all-star outfielder Carlos Gomez. The Brewers clearly won the trade as Gomez declined while Hader quickly became one of the most intimidating pitchers in all of baseball to face over the next 7 seasons in Milwaukee. Even after losing Hector Neris to Chicago, Houston should now have one of the best relief staffs by adding Hader to a bullpen with another all-star, Ryan Pressly. Houston is still outside of the top 10 in terms of their offseason however because they lost Michael Brantley to retirement and will now have a major hole that they did not address in the outfield.

11. New York Mets   (B)

File:New York Mets Insignia.svg - Wikipedia

Major Additions

  • SP Sean Manaea
  • SP Luis Severino
  • INF Joey Wendle
  • OF Harrison Bader
  • SP Adrian Houser

The Mets had the weaker of the two off-seasons in New York, but it may be a good thing that they for once did not spend a ton of money on free agents. That strategy did not work out at all last season as they massively underachieved, finishing in 4th in the NL East. Trading much of their pitching staff at the trade deadline last year, the Mets did not lose anyone of significance in this year’s off-season. To round out the starting rotation they got Manaea from San Francisco, Severino from the Yankees, and Houser from Milwaukee. These are all solid signings who only raise real concerns regarding their frequent injuries. The Mets also mildly improved their offense by adding infield and outfield depth in Joey Wendle and Harrison Bader.

2023 MLB Playoff Predictions: Division Series

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Caption: Playoff Picture as it stands October 7, 2023

By Ryan Harless

Ryan Harless is a fourth-year undergraduate at BGSU from Hillsboro, Ohio. He is majoring in Sport Management with a Journalism Minor. Baseball and golf at all levels are his primary interests but he is also interested in combat sports, hockey, basketball, and football.

October 7, 2023

It’s finally time for playoff baseball, my favorite time of the whole year. The MLB implemented a new playoff format this season that was supposed to give us a good bit more baseball to watch, but all four of the Wild Card series were two game sweeps with very little drama all around. But now we have moved into the Division Series where all matchups are a best of five. Here’s your guide to what I think will happen in this round of the playoffs.

Texas Rangers vs. Baltimore Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles have been a true success story this season, winning the American League East for the first time in almost a decade (2014). And in even rarer fashion, have won their division with the same manager who guided their rebuild. The Texas Rangers got here after a truly dominant season where the only in-division competition was the juggernaut Astros (we’ll get to them later). The Rangers decimated the Tampa Bay Rays in their Wild Card series outscoring Tampa 11-1 over two games.

This Rangers team can absolutely swing the bats and with Corey Seager, the statistically best shortstop in the game, staying hot, they will be a true force to be reckoned with. That being said, Baltimore has been one of the most fun teams to watch all season long with their super young core of rising stars. In this series, I feel that the Rangers veteran pitching will truly separate them from Baltimore and allow them to take the series and head to the American League Championship Series. I predict that Texas will win this series in 5 exciting games.

Minnesota Twins vs. Houston Astros

Minnesota defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in decisive fashion in their series with their pitching being relatively dominant throughout the two games. Houston made it to this point by continuing to have a chokehold on the American League West winning the division six of the last seven seasons.

I really like Minnesota and think that they are in a great spot for the future with their pitching being as dominant as it has been. However, this is the Houston Astros, and it is October. If you’ve followed baseball at all for the last few years, you know that Houston turns into something different once the calendar turns over and Fall takes hold. As much as I would love to say that I see the Twins taking this series and going on to the ALCS, I can’t in good faith bet against the Astros in the playoffs. I think the Astros will take this series in 4 games, I think Minnesota may win the first game and then get swept after kicking Houston into gear.

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Atlanta Braves

The Phillies earned the opportunity to take down the dynasty Braves after knocking off the Miami Marlins in their Wild Card matchup. The Atlanta Braves got here by winning 104 games and scoring almost 1,000 runs this season. What can you say about Atlanta that hasn’t already been said? They tied the record set by the 2019 Minnesota Twins for homers in a season by hitting 307 which is averaging 1.895 homers a game over a 162-game season. They had 7 of the starting 9 hit 20+ homers and 5 of those 7 hit more than 30. They have 4 batters with over 100 RBI; oh, and Ronald Acuna Jr. is slashing .337/.416/.596 with 41 homers, 73 stolen bases, and 80 walks. Also don’t forget about their ace Spencer Strider who set a new franchise record for strikeouts in a season with 281 though 186.2 innings.

This is not to say that the Phillies haven’t had a great season. But I just cannot understate how brilliant it has been to watch this Braves team. I expect Atlanta to take this series in 5 games, but I think the Braves will end up outscoring Philadelphia by quite a few runs in the series.

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Both National League matchups in the Division Series are also Division rivals which I think is a SUPER cool touch to this postseason. In the case of this series, I think it makes it more unpredictable. Arizona got here after finishing second in the National League West division to LA, and then beat the Brewers 2-0 in the Wild Card round. Going into the Wild Card round, I anticipated the Brewers to make a playoff run so watching Arizona take them out, gives me a lot more hope for them in this series. The Dodgers are here after winning 100 games and handily taking their division.

I am honestly looking for Arizona to shock the West and continue their unbeaten streak in the playoffs and sweep the Dodgers in three close games.

Of course, baseball is baseball, and it is incredibly tough to predict the outcome of games ESPECIALLY when it’s playoff time. Only time will tell who takes these games and moves on to their respective Championship Series. But I do know, when they come around, I’ll be back to predict their outcomes and see how I did with my predictions!

MLB Breakout Predictions: NL East

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Caption: NL East Teams

by Ryan Harless

Ryan Harless is a third-year undergraduate at BGSU from Hillsboro, Ohio. He is majoring in Sport Management with a Journalism Minor. Baseball and golf at all levels are his primary interests but he is also interested in combat sports, hockey, basketball, and football.

February 25, 2023

Welcome to part three of six of my series predicting the breakout stars for each and every Major League Baseball (MLB) team for 2023. In this series, I have already discussed the Central Divisions for both leagues which brings us to today’s topic, the National League East.

Finishing in last place in 2022 were the Washington Nationals. This team won the World Series just three seasons ago, well not this exact team as the roster has almost entirely turned over. However, this team has a pretty high ceiling with all of the young talent they obtained through trading their top stars.

My pick for their breakout star is MacKenzie Gore. Gore was the third player picked in the 2017 MLB Draft and was one of the major pieces in the trade sending Juan Soto to the Padres. Although his career is six years old to this point, Gore is only 23 at the time of writing as he was drafted right out of high school.

Gore has only thrown 70 innings at the Major League level and while he struggled with an ERA of 4.50, he punched out 72 batters. Through 250.1 innings in the minors, Gore notched 320 strikeouts while maintaining a stellar 2.91 ERA.

I predict that this season Gore will start to reach his potential and look for him to throw 150 innings with 200 strikeouts and a 3.40 ERA. MacKenzie should be a viable option for the ace of this Nationals’ staff.

The fourth-place finishers in the NL East last year were the Miami Marlins. This is another young team with a lot of potential over the next few years. There are a few different potential candidates for their breakout star.

Take, for instance, the cover of next year’s MLB The Show videogame Jazz Chisholm Jr., or even the returning Sixto Sanchez, but I think the player who will steal the spotlight is going to be Edward Cabrera.

MLB The Show fans already know what I am talking about with Cabrera as he has terrorized players for the past two years with his pitch variety and velocity.

In real life, Cabrera has a sinker that sits around 96-98 with lots of arm side movement as well as his 12-6 curveball that keeps hitters guessing. If everything goes right with players getting healthy, the Marlins could have Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera, and Sixto Sanchez as the top three of their starting rotation.

I look for Cabrera to go 14-6 with an ERA under 3.00 and throwing at least 150 innings.

The next in the standings in the NL East last season were the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies really don’t have a lot of super intriguing young players on their team this season after their World Series visit. I’m looking for a relative newcomer to be their breakout star.

I think that Brandon Marsh will have a great season where he can finally shine. Marsh has spent his last two seasons sharing the outfield with stars like Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. Now he gets the chance to shine in an outfield with Nicholas Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber.

I think if he is able to get his feet under him and play a lot of games again this year, he can become a very well-rounded outfielder. He is great defensively with his .990 fielding percentage, and will only improve with age.

I look for Marsh to bat .270 with 130+ hits as well as being one of the top defensive outfielders in the National League. His defensive play will really stand out being in an outfield with Castellanos and Schwarber who are both below average fielders.

Finishing second in the NL East last year were the New York Mets. The Mets spent a lot of money this offseason trying to make their way back to a World Series berth spending $500 million on free agents.

One of the Mets’ big acquisitions was star Japanese pitcher Kodai Senga, who I think will be a breakout star for the Mets. Over his 11 seasons in professional baseball, Senga has a staggering 2.42 ERA and a record of 104-51 with 1340.2 innings pitched. He has averaged almost 122 innings pitched during his time with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.

Japanese pitchers often struggle when they come to the MLB due to the change in the size and feel of the ball being different than it is in Japan, but I expect Senga to make an impact from the start.

I anticipate that Senga will throw 100 innings with an ERA around 2.75 and 125+ punch-outs in his first season in the MLB. I look for him to put up even better numbers than Masahiro Tanaka even though Senga is about five years older than Tanaka was when he entered the league.

Finally, this brings us to the 2022 NL East champions, the Atlanta Braves. I wouldn’t really say that this player will breakout this year as he won the ‘2022 Rookie of The Year award.’ But I still look for Michael Harris to continue his exciting play and keep improving on his already impressive numbers.

Last year, Harris slashed .297/.339/.514 with 19 homers and 123 total hits. Harris only played in 114 games so averaging more than a hit a game as a rookie in the very competitive NL East, is a feat in and of itself.

I look for more of the same from Harris in 2023. If he can get his strikeouts down and walks up, I’m predicting a .300/.400/.500 slash line from him. That, along with 25 homers and easily 20+ stolen bases, and with a little bit of good fortune, I think he can put up 30/30 years for many seasons to come.

Next time, I’ll be talking about the ever chippy AL East so be sure to check back in a few days for that!

Is Acuna Jr.’s Hustle a Problem for the Braves and Baseball?

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By Griffin Olah

October 13, 2019

Griffin is a second-year undergraduate BGSU student from North Ridgeville, Ohio. He is a Sport Management major and a Spanish minor. His primary sports interests are baseball and football, both collegiate and professional, but he is also interested in basketball, MMA, boxing and hockey.

Game 1 of the NLDS between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves was entering the bottom of the 7th with the Braves up 3-1. The first game is always among the most important, and the Braves had the ability to add to their lead. Ronald Acuna Jr., the Braves’ young phenom and leadoff hitter, stepped into the box. He worked the count to 2-2, and then unleashed a long fly ball off of Cardinals pitcher John Brebbia. The ball flew down the right field line, nearly leaving the confines of Sun Trust Park and extending the Braves’ lead. However, it came up short and careened off the wall. 

After watching the ball, Braves fans willing it to stay in the air and go over the wall, and seeing it land just short of a home run, attention turned to the bases. There, Ronald Acuna Jr was inexplicably on first base. After launching a ball 331 feet down the right field line, Acuna was stranded at first. He moved to second on a groundout by 2B Ozzie Albies, and was then doubled up after a Josh Donaldson lineout. 

It’s easy to see that something went wrong on the base paths with Acuna, though. While the double play was bad, it was almost inevitable. The real issue was his single to lead off. Acuna hyped up his long ball, as usual, but this time it came up short of the fence. Acuna stood in the box, his bat raised to the sky in celebration, for two seconds as the ball was in the air. After that, he jogged to first only for Cardinals OF Dexter Fowler to play the ball off the wall and fire it into the infield. If Acuna came running out of the box as soon as the ball left his bat, he would have easily made it to second. He would have then moved to third on Albies’s groundout and the double play would have been much more difficult to turn. Acuna could have scored. 

After the game, the Braves were understandably frustrated. Veteran 1B Freddie Freeman pointed back to when Acuna was benched in August for not running out a foul ball, believing you only need to “have that conversation once” (West, 2019, para. 4). Albies believes that Acuna “probably scores that inning if he’s on second” (West, 2019, para. 8). Acuna was a problem for the Braves in that moment, but what about the rest of baseball?

Media attention on Game 1 revolved around Acuna’s lack of hustle, much like it did last season with Manny Machado’s lack of hustle and possibly dirty play in the playoffs for the Los Angeles Dodgers. This time, however, the actions of Acuna are perceived as more representative of the entire league. New outlets point to Acuna’s hustle as evidence that “the game has changed” into something selfish and immodest (Mushnick, 2019, para. 10). While people in the game – GM’s, managers, coaches, players – have excused the actions of players like Machado and Acuna, the media feeds off of it and turns it into something it’s not. Is Acuna not hustling a problem? Sure, he might have cost the Braves a key run that would have factored heavily in the 7-6 loss. Is Acuna’s hustle emblematic of baseball as a whole falling into bat flipping ruin? No, it probably isn’t.

The traditional media – old players, managers, and GMs sitting in broadcast booths – like to talk about how baseball as a whole is changing into some unwatchable mess of strikeouts, home runs and bat flips. Former pitcher Goose Gossage said of the sport “it’s not baseball. It’s unwatchable,” (Nightengale, 2019, para. 7). Hit king Pete Rose said the game has turned into a “home run derby every night” (Nightengale, 2019, para. 14). And former manager Lou Piniella derided the shift, claiming he “won a few games without having to shift” (Nightengale, 2019, para. 14). While that is up for debate and interpretation of each person watching the game, Acuna’s hustle is not some overarching issue like the media is making it out to be. It’s a key mistake in an important playoff game, but not some egregious pattern of error that needs to be corrected. With this miscue, the focus on Ronald Acuna Jr. has shifted from his near 40-40 season and his 1.579 OPS in the Postseason so far to his inability to hustle and his selfishness (“Baseball Reference,” 2019). Acuna put together an amazing season, shouldn’t the focus be on marketing one of the league’s best young players instead of his relatively small faults?

References

Baseball Reference. (2019). Ronald Acuna Jr. Stats. Baseball Reference. Retrieved from https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/acunaro01.shtml

Mushnick, P. (2019, October 5). Braves’ Ronald Acuna is doing his part in ruining baseball. New York Post. Retrieved from https://nypost.com/2019/10/05/braves-ronald-acuna-is-doing-his-part-in-ruining-baseball/

Nightengale, B. (2019, August 19). MLB lifers decry the state of the modern baseball: ‘Unwatchable’. USA Today. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2019/08/19/mlb-baseballs-old-timers-decry-state-modern-game/2047025001/.

West, J. (2019, October 4). Braves critical of Ronald Acuna Jr. for lack of hustle in NLDS Game 1 loss. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved from https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/10/04/ronald-acuna-jr-lack-hustle-braves

Braves Ban “Screaming Indian” Hat

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BY LORI RAUDIO

In December, the batting practice caps for  MLB teams were unveiled on the website Uni Watch. Most teams did simple variations on their logos and colors, but the Atlanta Braves’ new logo caused some controversy. The team chose to feature a “screaming Indian,” which many people felt was offensive to Native Americans.

This logo was retired in 1989, along with mascot “Chief Noc-a-Homa,” who wore traditional Native American tribal dress and paint. It is unclear what made the Braves want to bring back the logo, but they have since changed their position. After two months of controversy, the Braves announced they will use the traditional Atlanta “A,” rather than the Native American caricature.

Many members of the media spoke out in support of the Brave’s decision including national baseball writer, Craig Calcaterra. He wrote, “We’ll never know if public pressure and the negative reaction following the leak of the other design had anything to do with the choice, but it’s good to see that the Braves made the right choice.”

While this may be a step in the right direction, there are still many issues surrounding the use of Native American names and caricatures in sports. The Cleveland Indians are a team frequently in hot water for their mascot. They recently released new merchandise with an old logo of Chief Wahoo featuring a stereotypical Native American image with a large hooked noise and feathers.

The Washington Redskins, Kansas City Chiefs, and Chicago Blackhawks are just a few more examples of schools that use Native American mascots and logos. There has been debate over renaming these teams for many years, but so far no action has been taken. The one exception is the Florida State Seminoles, who were given permission by the Seminole Tribe to use their name.

The Atlanta Braves made the right decision, and it will be interesting to see if their decision will start a trend. There is no reason to disrespect a group of people by using offensive logos and mocking their traditions.