"I thought the race was over?" "Tied for first place" - Atlanta Braves fans celebrate team's mega comeback from 10.5 games down to take the shared lead of NL East

Never underestimate the heart of a champion. The Atlanta Braves just proved a timeless quote by Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Rudy Tomjanovich. The reigning world champions defeated the Oakland Athletics in a 10-9 slugfest to claim a shared lead in the NL East.

With a victory over the Athletics, the Atlanta Braves now have an identical record as the New York Mets at 85-51. To put in perspective just how amazing the feat was, Atlanta was down by 10.5 games on June 1 but the team has clawed their way back to the top.

The Braves drew first blood in a short two-game set that saw the return of former Oakland stalwart Matt Olson to his old stumping ground. Atlanta jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first via a Willson Contreras' sac fly and a Vaughn Grissom two-RBI single.

Olson reminded the Oakland crowd about his talents when he hit a three-run home run to center that pushed the scoreline to 6-1.

The game looked done and dusted before the A's mounted a four-run rally in the bottom of the third triggered by Ramon Laureano. This cut the lead to one at 6-5. Atlanta again jumped ahead in the fifth through Marcell Ozuna's two-RBI single that pushed the lead to four.

The A's would bounce back just a half-inning later as Chad Pinder tied the score with his three-run home run. Ultimately though, it was Austin Riley's sac fly in the sixth that gave the go-ahead run for the Braves to end the game at 10-9.

Atlanta Braves, down but never out

The Atlanta Braves had a terrible start to the year, going as low as 23-27 on May 31. The team surely missed the presence of club star Ronald Acuña Jr. but once he came back, the team looked primed to turn things around.

Second baseman Ozzie Albies initially carried the load for the team with help from Matt Olson. The terrific thing is that the lineup caught up and went online even when Albies got sidelined due to an injury.

The team slowly but surely clawed their way back after an impressive 21-6 record in June. Since that month, the Atlanta Braves have a win-loss record of 80-24 and have been one of the most lethal teams in the league.

They've now won five straight games and are undefeated in the month of September. With the Mets losing to the Pirates in today's game, it will be interesting to see which team will claim the solo spot first.

What's certain is that the race for the divisional pennant is heating up and it will be an exciting race to the finish line.

About the author

Daniel Santiago is a journalist who has been reporting on baseball at Sportskeeda since 2022. He was drawn towards the sport after the underlying statistics and the analysis surrounding it grabbed his attention.

Daniel particularly enjoys furnishing reports about historic events in baseball and analyzing the game through a statistic-based outlook, based on Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference. This is in line with how he enjoyed watching baseball as a pastime. As a writer, he is very particular about cross-checking from reputable sources and doing his due diligence.

He became a lifelong Hideki Matsui fan after his exploits in the 2009 World Series for the New York Yankees. Among the current generation, Daniel's favorites include Shohei Ohtani and Jung Hoo Lee. Daniel is a huge follower of Asian baseball and both Ohtani and Lee have been in the top echelon of their respective leagues during their time with the NPB and KBO.

His favorite moment as a baseball fan was the final at-bat of the 2023 World Baseball Classic between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. He believes there aren't many words to fittingly describe the intensity of the moment.

As an avid sports fan, Daniel watches other sports and Esports when not writing about baseball.

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