WASHINGTON — The hottest team in the major leagues can shrug off the loss of its durable, two-time All-Star second baseman to a fractured left foot, knowing it has been through worse and come out stronger.
"I don’t know that you can throw anything at them," manager Brian Snitker says of his Atlanta Braves, "that they haven’t already withstood or experienced."
The team with the longest winning streak in baseball – now 13 games – can look back on a listless start to the season knowing a similarly desultory start to 2021 ended with a champagne shower in Houston and the club’s first World Series title since 1995.