‘It’s definitely the culture here’: How the Braves keep moving forward — no matter what gets in their way
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Jesse Rogers, ESPN Staff Writer
Just over two weeks into the MLB season, the Atlanta Braves are exactly where they’re expected to be: atop the National League East standings. But any thought that the coming months would be about coasting through the regular season until the real challenge begins in October quickly went out the window when Spencer Strider felt discomfort in his right elbow during his second start earlier this month.
On Saturday, a team news release confirmed every Braves fan’s worst fear: Their ace needed season-ending elbow surgery, leaving Atlanta to navigate the rest of 2024 without the pitcher who set the franchise strikeout record a year ago. The situation is similar to last season, when lefty Max Fried left Opening Day because of a hamstring ailment then later missed much of the year because of a forearm strain. The Braves not only survived that blow but went on to win their sixth straight division title while providing a blueprint for their latest challenge.
“You can never replace frontline, Cy Young-caliber starters with internal depth,” Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos told ESPN on Saturday. “But it’s not like the NBA where one guy can dramatically change the impact, you’re going to have to do it as an entire 40-man group and beyond.
“I know it’s a cliché, but we really are going to take it day by day. People will get opportunities, no doubt about it. At some point if someone seizes that opportunity and gets a long period to start, that’s fantastic.”
Anthopoulos cited righty Bryce Elder’s opportunity, after Fried went down last season, as an example of what can come of a bad situation. Elder made the All-Star team, flourishing in the first half.
So on one hand, it’s a devastating blow to a perennial powerhouse. On the other, overcoming adversity is exactly what the franchise has excelled at doing. Instead of dwelling on the negative, the Braves just keep moving forward, owning the NL East in part by savvy management, continuity among their players and a history steeped in winning that began in the 1990s. It begins with an organizational mindset that Strider described in the days before his injury.
“It’s definitely the culture here,” Strider told ESPN. “It starts in development. They told us they’re trying to create championship pitchers, not just big leaguers. It’s an interesting thing to hear verbalized in Low-A.
“Your goal isn’t just to be a big leaguer, it’s to help the team win the World Series. That’s what they’re looking for.”
Winning in October is always the expectation in the Atlanta clubhouse, but only once over the past six seasons have the Braves finished the postseason atop the baseball world. And that title came in the most unlikely year, when the 2021 Braves caught fire late in the season and won the World Series despite entering August with a sub-.500 record.
Better regular-season results and greater expectations going into the next two postseasons only led to playoff disappointment, with the Braves bowing out in the past two division series rounds.
The constant, though, has been Atlanta’s ability to turn the page and dominate the division during the next regular season. Raising a World Series trophy in 2021 didn’t bring a hangover in 2022 — instead it was yet another division win, this time running away with the NL East by 14 games. And falling short during the 2022 playoffs didn’t stop Atlanta from winning its sixth straight division title last season, also by 14 games. Even after watching their ace get hurt during a series opener earlier this month, the Braves went on to sweep the Arizona Diamondbacks and moved into first place once again.
“We have a great team,” first baseman Matt Olson said. “We absolutely feel like we should be playing in the postseason. but you have to earn it. It’s the build-up throughout the season that gets you to that spot and gives you the confidence to go perform in that setting. Nothing is given.”
It’s a practice preached by their 68-year-old father figure of a manager, Brian Snitker. In some ways, his situation is a manager’s dream: He has a talented team filled with self-motivated players he’ll have to drag out of the lineup for a day off. Keeping stars happy while prioritizing daily goals, instead of fixating on the big picture, is harder than it seems. Under his leadership, the Braves excel at not fast-forwarding their brains to October.
“I talked to the guys about that early on,” Snitker said. “It’s easy to do. It’s easy to say — but you have to win today. You can only control today. If you want to fast forward, you’ll realize it doesn’t work that way. Our guys know what’s ahead of them.”
With that message preached to them from the first day of spring training through the sometimes monotonous grind of the 162-game season, the Braves have learned to embrace that winning each day along the way makes reaching their loftier long-term goals taste even sweeter.
“When you’re playing MLB The Show, you can just simulate the playoffs, it’s human nature,” Morton said. “You want your ‘want’ now. Thankfully, we’re still in reality. We have to go through the process so if and when we win the division, we’re looking around the room and they have the tarp up and there is a toast and a feeling of satisfaction and it’s like we’ve been here before. Now let’s find a way to get it done this year.”
Anthopoulos and the rest of the Braves’ front office have learned that roster building is about focusing on the entire picture in a profession in which you are ultimately judged on the final result. The elation of winning a World Series in 2021 lasted about three days before the GM meetings and offseason ahead demanded their full attention. In the early October exits that followed, they learned that the simple difference between winning the World Series and losing in your first round is more time to prepare for the winter — but also more time to stew.
“As a front office, you kind of mope and feel sorry for yourself but then, ‘Hey, the offseason is here, we have to build a team,'” Anthopoulos said. “You don’t forget, but you have to turn the page because all your competitors are doing the same thing.”
If six straight division titles sounds impressive, then just imagine walking into work every day and staring up at the 14 banners the Braves won from 1991 to 2005. The standard of success is ever-present motivation within the organization. It also keeps everyone humble, from the decision-makers in the front office to the players on the field.
“We think six is a lot, right?” Morton said. “You can acknowledge the past because you really are standing on their shoulders. But you also have to find your own way as a group. That’s a year-by-year thing. It’s a delicate balance because you want to keep some of the guys involved in that in the room. You have to be careful who you’re moving and what those guys mean in the clubhouse.”
That’s Anthopoulos’ job. Praised for locking down his stars on multiyear deals, he still needs to find the right balance from season to season. Losing in October in consecutive years can distort your vision. The Braves GM tries to remember a simple principle.
“[Former executive] Pat Gillick said this, turning 20% of your roster over each year is a good idea,” Anthopoulos said. “That’s five players. We don’t force moves, but the way the game is set up it’s going to happen anyway.”
This offseason, that turnover came via a spree of trades primarily focused on creating pitching depth. Chris Sale, Aaron Bummer and Reynaldo Lopez joined the pitching staff, while outfielder Jarred Kelenic came over in a trade with Seattle. All told, Anthopoulos made a half-dozen trades this winter to surround the core of the team led by Ronald Acuna Jr., Austin Riley, Olson and Ozzie Albies.
But losing their ace early in the season means the biggest decisions could come in the days leading up to this summer’s trade deadline when the front office will have to decide whether to augment the pitching staff or roll with what the Braves have. The timing allows the front office an opportunity to do whatever it takes to put the best roster on the field when the games matter most in October.
“What team would you rather have going into the playoffs?” Morton asked rhetorically. “The 2021 Braves or the 2023 Braves? We won 104 games last season but came up short. When you get there, there’s just no way to know. There’s no way to know how the first couple games of a five-game playoff series are going to go. All you can do is the best you can do for six months. That’s our goal every year.”
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Greg Wyshynski
Boston Bruins forward Morgan Geekie can finish a Rubik’s Cube in under a minute.
“I mean, right now I’d be pretty rusty,” he said. “I’m not insane, like those kids that you see on TV, but I’m pretty good at them.”
When Geekie was around 10 years old, a cousin taught him how to speed solve the puzzle. While some have never found a way to line up that mosaic of colors despite years of trying, Geekie said it’s doable once one cracks the code. One summer at their lake cottage, his cousin wrote down its patterns. Geekie spent two weeks memorizing them and working out solutions while fiddling with the cube.
“It’s basically just all algorithms. You just do the same moves all the time once you get the pieces in the right spot. Once you do that, I mean, it’s pretty cut and dry. Everything goes in order,” he said. “I haven’t really forgot. It’s just one of those things that once you know it, you know it.”
Perhaps Geekie just knows how to score goals now, too.
That’s the simplest rationalization for the 27-year-old’s unexpected transformation into one of the NHL’s premier goal scorers. Through 34 games, Geekie is second in the NHL with 24 goals, trailing only the dominant Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche (28). Going back to the start of last season, Geekie is tied for 11th in goals scored (57).
Geekie scored 33 goals in 2024-25, which is 16 more than his previous career high set two years ago with the Bruins. He shot 22%, which obliterated his previous career best of 13.1% set in 2023-24.
There’s always an offensive player whose unexpected scoring surge in one season makes him the consensus choice for regression the following season. Entering this season, that player was Geekie.
He was the first player listed on ESPN’s rundown of regression candidates, with the expectation that he would top out at 26 goals. Sports Illustrated did the same thing, writing that his “offensive numbers are set to dip next season.” Daily Faceoff wrote that Geekie’s shooting percentage was “a strong indication that his performance isn’t sustainable, at least at this level” for the Bruins.
Geekie gets it. He called the predictions “a fair statement” given that he was scoring less than 10 goals in a season with the Seattle Kraken just a few seasons ago.
“I see it all. It’s an easy cherry to pick to be like, ‘Obviously he’s shooting 22%, it’s going to go down.’ It didn’t bother me at all,” Geekie said.
Rather than regress, Geekie has progressed this season. Through 34 games, he is shooting 28.2%.
“I mean, it’s got to go down at some point,” he said, with a laugh. “Like I said, I don’t really pay attention to that and I’m not somebody that has 10 shots a game, so I just try to make the most of my opportunities when I get the puck.”
GEEKIE IS AMUSED by the focus on his shooting percentage, because he feels there are easy explanations for it. The first is that he doesn’t believe he shoots the puck all that much. Over the past two seasons, David Pastrnak averaged 3.79 shots per game in 110 games. Geekie averaged 2.11 in that same span. Only Sidney Crosby (2.45 shots per game) has a lower average than Geekie (2.48) among the top 10 goal-scorers this season.
“I feel like I’m a big quality over quantity person,” he said.
His first season in Boston, coach Jim Montgomery stressed the need for Geekie to get chances from deep inside the attacking zone.
“I think a high-danger chance is better than just shooting it from the wall. That’s kind of the mentality that I’ve had always. I’m not trying to waste shots that aren’t good for anybody,” Geekie said. “Unless I’m trying to create something off it, I’m honestly not trying to put it on net. Maybe that’s why I end up where I end up.”
Pastrnak recently said the Bruins were reminding Geekie to shoot the puck more often. In fairness, Geekie is shooting more this season. Pastrnak said Geekie is “definitely trying to be a little more selfish to take them” when he fights into high-danger areas of the ice. But Geekie acknowledged there are sometimes philosophical differences between his striving for quality over his team’s desire for quantity.
“I think it’s a push and pull,” he said. “It’s like, I don’t think I need to be shooting this, but other people think that it still gives us an opportunity to create a chance. So I just try to keep that in mind when I have the puck”
This is Geekie’s seventh season in the NHL. He was selected by the Carolina Hurricanes with the 67th pick in the 2017 draft as a goal-scoring forward with the WHL Tri-City Americans. His first two seasons as a pro were mostly spent in the AHL with the Charlotte Checkers, before playing 36 games with the Hurricanes in 2020-21.
That summer, the Seattle Kraken held their expansion draft as the NHL’s newest team. Geekie was left off Carolina’s protected list. At the time, it wasn’t expected that former Hurricanes GM Ron Francis would select him for the Kraken, with options like defenseman Jake Bean and forward Nino Niederreiter available from Carolina. But Geekie was the choice, a player whom Francis had drafted while with the Canes.
Geekie had 22 points in 73 games in his first season in Seattle, skating 12:36 per game with just seven goals. His second campaign saw him jump to 28 points in 69 games, but with even less ice time (10:27).
He was a restricted free agent after the 2022-23 season. Francis attempted to re-sign him before the deadline for submitting qualifying offers, but Geekie and his representatives declined it. The two sides couldn’t find common ground. Rather than go to arbitration, where the Kraken weren’t keen on Geekie potentially setting the terms of his next deal, they chose not to qualify him, making him an unrestricted free agent.
“With Morgan, we did make what I felt was a pretty fair offer,” Francis said at the time, via Sound of Hockey. “It didn’t work out, and he has the right once we don’t qualify him to go elsewhere.”
And so he went to Boston, signing a two-year deal worth $4 million in total.
While he wasn’t seeing much time with the Kraken, Geekie felt he was improving as a player. He said a “integral part” of that development was thanks to Jonathan Sigalet, a skills coach who improved all facets of his game.
“When I first started working with him, he was adamant that he wasn’t going to try and make me play like I’m on the first line,” Geekie recalled. “He said, ‘We both know that trying to do things that you do on the first line on the fourth line is going to get you in the press box.'”
He said working with Siglet slowed the game down for him. He started to see the game differently. He began to see “little tendencies” that all of the NHL’s good players share. Geekie also appreciated having a “third party” assessment for his play, apart from that of his coaches and his own.
Geekie was immediately given an opportunity to thrive in Boston in 2023-24, playing 15:21 in his first game with the Bruins. He ended up averaging 15:25 per game, with 17 goals and 22 assists in 76 games. He earned time with Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha on the Bruins’ top line.
His follow-up season didn’t start well. Geekie scored one goal in his first 17 games and was a healthy scratch early in the season. Some trade whispers started about him as a pending restricted free agent. He had eight goals by the end of the 2024 calendar year.
How did he end up with 33 of them? With one of the greatest goal-scoring heaters this side of Alex Ovechkin: Geekie scored 14 goals in his last 20 games of the season. His chemistry with Pastrnak was undeniable — the Bruins scoring ace assisted on 21 of Geekie’s 33 goals last season.
Geekie expressed a desire to stay with the Bruins. The feeling was mutual, as GM Don Sweeney in June handed him a six-year, $33 million contract for a team-friendly $5.5 million annual cap hit.
WHEN GEEKIE SIGNED his new contract, he decided he wanted to join in the tradition of NHL players celebrating a windfall with their teammates. It’s usually a dinner or something of that nature.
But Geekie wanted to do something different.
“Everybody’s eating at the same restaurants in every city. And I’m sure they’d remember it for a little while, but I think it would be just one of those things like, ‘Hey, thanks for dinner.’ So I wanted to do something a little more nostalgic,” he said.
Geekie is a huge baseball fan who played competitively until his late teens. He was in the process of designing a personalized baseball glove for himself through a company called 44 Pro Custom Gloves when his wife, Emma, suggested that he design ones for all of his teammates as a gift.
Geekie started the process in July, sketching out what he wanted on the gloves for 30 teammates — including players that were on the bubble for the Bruins’ roster this season. He had the biographical information for them, from their birth cities and countries to their schools to where they played junior hockey.
“Honestly, for probably three weeks, I just sat in front of my TV watching baseball and I would just draft gloves up. I thought it was so fun,” Geekie said. “My wife got sick of me for a little while.”
He would FaceTime his brother Noah, a coach at Okotoks Dawgs Academy in Alberta, to bounce the designs off him and get input. He was cognizant of having the designs as unique as possible, despite some of the school colors being similar for his teammates.
Before a practice in October, Geekie delivered the gloves to the locker room stalls of his teammates. It went over well.
“Baseball is not that big in Sweden, but it’s obviously cool to have,” center Elias Lindholm told the Bruins website, having received a glove with a Swedish flag on it. “Hopefully, when my kids get a little bit older, we can play a little game or something. For now, it is just going to be at home, resting.”
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Morgan Geekie nets goal for Bruins
Morgan Geekie nets goal for Bruins
While the gloves were a chance to celebrate with his teammates, there weren’t many celebrations anticipated for Boston this season. The Bruins were trading players away at last season’s trade deadline, sending mainstays like captain Brad Marchand (Florida), center Charlie Coyle (Colorado) and defenseman Brandon Carlo (Toronto) elsewhere. They had an incoming first-year coach in Marco Sturm. At best, it was supposed to be a transition year for the Bruins.
But through 34 games, Boston is second in the Atlantic Division with a 20-14-0 record, within a point of division-leading Detroit in the crowded Eastern Conference.
Many around the NHL were surprised. Geekie wasn’t.
“We underperformed. Last season was like the perfect storm of bad events with our kind of discombobulated training camp and then having a coaching change and just kind of everything that could have went wrong went wrong,” Geekie said. “The core group we have is just too good to be written off. But I understand why people had doubts about us.”
But defying doubts is what Morgan Geekie’s all about, whether it’s his team’s predicted finish in the standings or his own predicted regression as a scorer.
“He has everything to score 50 in this league,” Pastrnak said. “He has a heck of a shot. He has the goal-scoring instincts. He is going to get it one day.”
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