When presumptive NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. went down with a torn ACL on July 10 against the Marlins, it was thought the Atlanta Braves would not be able to sustain the loss of one of the best players in the National League. After all, through 82 games, Acuna had a team-best .990 OPS, OPS+ of 155, 24 HRs and 17 stolen bases, and was leaving an underachieving Braves team that was 44-44 and 4.5 games behind the New York Mets in the NL East standings.
Yes, the Braves still had Freddie Freeman, Dansby Swanson, Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies, but all of those players had been inconsistent, the pitching staff looked bleak, and the team had been unable to right the ship to that point.