Marcell Ozuna Just Saved the Season

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The hit that saves the season?
The Braves are down 4-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning. The bases are loaded and Marcell Ozuna is ready to go in the batter’s box. There are two outs.

The Braves have won five of their last seven games heading into the first game of a pivotal series against the division-rival Mets, who also lead the NL East. The Braves are 13 games back on June 18th, with a very small chance of making the playoffs. And a loss to the Mets basically makes it a zero percent chance. Down three runs with four outs left in the game, and potentially the season, we need Ozuna from the Braves to step up.

Remember July 31st, 2020? The Braves are down 10-6 going into the home half of the 8th inning against the visiting Mets.

Hechavarria singles, then Inciarte walks, bringing Acuna Jr to the plate with the chance to get us within a run…. but he strikes out. Thankfully, baseball is a team game, and the Braves have multiple All-Stars.

Swanson steps up with an RBI single, and then Freeman walks. The fourth ball was a wild pitch that brought in Ender Inciarte, so now the Braves are only down two with one out.

Ozuna walks to load the bases… but then Johan Camargo flies out. Shoot.

Bases loaded, two outs, down two runs in the 8th inning to the team you dislike the most. Who wants to be a hero? How about a player the Mets knew well.

Travis d’Arnaud bounced around organizations before landing with the Mets, but they released him in May 2019. The Braves signed him after the 2019 season, undoubtedly not with the expectations that he would be a key player helping the Braves to a World Series championship in 2021. But to the Mets, he was just another guy released.

Well, Travis got his revenge, as he doubled to the fence in Right Center and cleared the bases, putting the Braves ahead 11-10, eventually the final score.

That set the tone for the next few seasons, where the Braves never seemed out of any game. Comebacks were almost expected. But so far this season, that magic hasn’t appeared. The Braves are statistically one of the worst teams at bringing runners home, and there is an energy missing from the dugout that existed in past years…

until June 17th.

The Mets are leading 4-1 in the bottom of the 8th, ready to send the hometown Braves to the sellers side of the Trade Deadline. It would be very hard not to give up on the season if the Mets just waltz into Atlanta and have their way with us. 13 games back is already a lot, but 14 or 15 seems insurmountable.

Nick Allen leads off the inning with a walk, quickly followed by a single from Ronald (he wasn’t striking out this time). Then Verdugo singled to bring the go-ahead run to the plate with no outs!

This would be exciting, but with the way things have gone in 2025 it was almost an expectation that we would collapse in epic fashion.

Matt Olson strikes out looking on only four pitches. Nice.

Austin Riley flies out on the second pitch he sees, and it’s not even deep enough to score the runner at third. Nice.

This is how it’s going to go? We are just going to lay down to the Mets even after loading the bases with no outs?

Marcell Ozuna steps into the box with the weight of the season on his shoulders.

First pitch- ball.

Second pitch- ball.

Okay. Up in the count 2-0 with no where to put him, you know the pitcher is throwing a strike here, and he does. Nice cutter on the inside corner to make the count 2-1. That worked, so he tries it again and Ozuna fouls it off. Literally the same pitch, 93 mph cutter inside part of the strike zone.

Shoot. It’s 2-2 count, down 3 runs in the 8th inning, this is it.

Foul ball.

Foul ball again. Still 2-2 count. Can Ozuna give the Mets the same punch that d’Arnaud did almost five years ago? Garrett comes set, lifts his leg and throws….

LET’S GO!!!! Ozuna ties the game 4-4!

After a scoreless ninth inning we are headed to extras.

Raisel Iglesias steps on the mound with a runner at second base with one goal: shut the Mets down. This hasn’t been the case so far as we all know this season. Iglesias hasn’t been the dominating closer we’ve come to expect, but this season hasn’t met expectations all year.

But Ozuna’s hit sparked something.

Three pitches was all it took to strike out the first batter for Raisel, and eight pitches later he had gotten two more easy fly balls to send us to the bottom of the tenth inning still tied.

Let’s Go!

What happened in the bottom of the 10th? Ronald was intentionally walked, and then Olson earned a walk. Then Riley stepped into the box…

Yes, the same Austin Riley that we love as Braves fans. But he hasn’t been the same this year. He’s barely in the top 50 in the league in batting average and homeruns, and he’s not even in the top 80 hitters in baseball for .OPS (on-base % + slugging %).

Basically, the player we think of as an All-Star is playing like an average joe.

But Ozuna’s hit sparked something.

Riley attacked the first pitch:

THE BRAVES COME BACK AND BEAT THE METS!

Ozuna’s hit sparked something.

The Braves need their All-Stars

Ozuna, Olson, Riley, and Ronald have to play like the All-Stars we know they are to keep this momentum. We’ve now won 7 of our last 9 games and need to keep this pace if we want to delete the 11 game deficit we face in our division.

The good news is that things appear to be turning around.

Ronald is back to making a case for being the face of the MLB.

It’s not up for debate.

Ronald Acuna Jr. is the best player in baseball right now. And the Braves need every ounce of his talent if we want a chance at the playoffs.

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One game for the season?

It might sound overdramatic to claim one play can make or break a season…

But Ozuna’s hit sparked something.

Sure, no singular moment defines a season, but a collection of singular moments is all a season really is.

The Braves desperately needed someone to step up and spark a fire in the hearts of every player.

The Panda hugs, the Heredia swords, the charisma and swagger that defined us for the last few seasons hadn’t appeared until Tuesday night when the All-Stars of our team showed up and instilled resilience and a fight back into this team.

There is a lot of season left… and I say this with my chest:

DO NOT LET THE BRAVES GET HOT.

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