5 Ludacris songs that describe the Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves are real good. They are 90-46, in first place in the NL East and first place in the National League — heck they are first place in Major League Baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals... aren’t quite as good. So instead of focusing on that, let’s have a little fun with the preview by using the work of famous Atlantian, Ludacris, to help preview the Atlanta Braves.

Number One Spot

Obviously we have to start with this one seeing as the Braves are the top team in the league. I am pretty sure Luda wrote this track for an Austin Powers movie, but I remember it more for being David Eckstein’s walk-up track when he played for the Cardinals. He was the leadoff batter. It was perfect.

Southern Hospitality

The Cardinals will travel to Atlanta to take on the Braves where the Braves have a .667 winning percentage. They also have a .657 winning percentage on the road, so there isn’t much of split — they just win a lot wherever they are.

Get Back

The Braves lead baseball in home runs with 259 as a team. That is 46 more than the next team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. They lead the league with a .225 team ISO and also lead in wRC+ at 125.

Growing Pains

At just age 25, Ronald Acuña Jr. is already in his sixth MLB season. His season ended early in 2021 after he tore his ACL fielding a foul ball and he had a bit of a down year in 2022 as he returned to playing. This season he is making up for lost time, though. He is the top hitter on a stacked Braves’ offense with a 167 wRC+. He is tied for second in baseball among hitters per fWAR with 6.8.

How Low

As a team the Braves are third in baseball in ERA at 3.78 and third in FIP at 3.91. They are lead by Spencer Strider. Strider has a 2.81 FIP and 3.56 ERA. He leads the league in strikeout rate with 38% and has a .203 average against. The Cardinals face him on Wednesday. On Thursday the face Max Fried, who leads the Braves in ERA 2.52 in just over 60 innings. He’s struck out almost 26% and walks 5.3%.

That’s what I have about the Braves. They are really good and the Cardinals are going to have their work cut out for them.

Matchups:

Tuesday, September 5 at 6:20 pm: Miles Mikolas vs. TBD
Wednesday, September 6 at 6:20 pm: Dakota Hudson vs. Spencer Strider
Thursday, September 7 at 6:20 pm: Adam Wainwright vs. Max Fried