Atlanta Braves’ Christian Bethancourt hits a single to score teammates Phil Gosselin, Freddie Freeman and Jason Heyward in theirgame against the Washington Nationals, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014, in Atlanta.ATLANTA – The Atlanta Braves watched another team celebrate at Turner Field.
Barring a remarkable turnaround, they’ll be watching the postseason at home.
After spending a good part of the year in or near first place in the National League East, the Braves faded from contention with a dismal showing since the All-Star break. It looks like they’ll miss the playoffs for only the seventh time in the last 24 years, a bitter scenario for a franchise that usually saved its disappointment for October.
“We’re just not playing good baseball. We’re just not scoring runs,” catcher Gerald Laird said. “Our pitching’s been good. We just haven’t been able to string some big innings together to score some runs.”
The Braves were off Thursday, facing a daunting 5 1/2-game deficit in the wild-card race with only 10 games remaining.