ATLANTA — Expectations are about as high as they can get this year for the Braves -- and national outlets are further putting air in Atlanta's balloon.
ESPN published its 2024 season preview for all 30 teams on Monday, and nobody stacks up better than the Braves.
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According to the "Worldwide Leader," the Braves are a virtual lock to make the playoffs -- with 99% odds based on their internal projection system.
With six teams in each league now making the playoffs, it's certainly hard to see how this loaded Atlanta squad would fall out of the postseason picture. But ESPN's projections don't merely stop at the playoffs -- they have the Braves with better odds than anybody to win it all.
Atlanta was listed with 28.4% World Series odds and 105 projected wins, No. 1 in baseball. Only the Dodgers, with 104 projected wins and 26.5% World Series odds, come even close.
Underscoring just how far-and-away favorites the Braves and Dodgers are, the third-ranked team, Houston, was given 97 projected wins, 12.4% World Series odds and 92% playoff odds.
But as ESPN MLB writer Jorge Castillo noted in the article, after back-to-back disappointing early exits to the Phillies in the postseason the past two seasons, pressure will be on Atlanta not merely to show that they're one of baseball's best collections of talent -- it'll be to show they can put it together for a deep playoff run.
"The Braves' outlook hasn't changed; they are primed for another division title," Castillo wrote. "But will their October fortunes change?"
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