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Braves lose to Marlins, get eliminated from NL East title race

AP photo by Marta Lvandier / The Atlanta Braves' Sean Murphy falls on his knees to avoid a pitch during the eighth inning of Friday night's game against the host Miami Marlins.
AP photo by Marta Lvandier / The Atlanta Braves' Sean Murphy falls on his knees to avoid a pitch during the eighth inning of Friday night's game against the host Miami Marlins. AP photo by Marta Lvandier / The Atlanta Braves' Sean Murphy falls on his knees to avoid a pitch during the eighth inning of Friday night's game against the host Miami Marlins.

By The Associated Press 5 min read

MIAMI — The Atlanta Braves are running out of pathways to the playoffs. They’re also running out of time.

They have a game Saturday afternoon, though, and late Friday night, that was all manager Brian Snitker was thinking about — and the next game is all he wants his team thinking about with a little more than a week remaining in Major League Baseball’s 2024 regular season.

Jake Burger went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI double to lead the Miami Marlins to a 4-3 win over the Braves on Friday, the opener to a three-game series between National League East Division teams at LoanDepot Park.

Atlanta’s setback coupled with the Philadelphia Phillies’ 4-3 road win against the New York Mets soon afterward mathematically ended the Braves’ quest for a seventh straight division title. The first-place Phillies (92-62) have a seven-game lead over the second-place Mets (85-69), the only two teams remaining in the NL East championship hunt.

Atlanta (83-71) remains in the chase for one of the NL’s three wild-card playoff berths but is currently two games out of the final spot. The San Diego Padres (88-66) are in the first slot and followed by a fellow NL West team with the Arizona Diamondbacks (86-68) two games back. The Mets are in the final spot, another game back.