Bracket 32: A BRAVE NEW WORLD
ATLANTA PUNCHES LAST TICKET TO FINAL 32; OLSON NAMED MVP
ATLANTA — The final seat at the Big Beautiful Baseball Bash table belongs to the 2022 Atlanta Braves.
Atlanta completed the last of the 32 bracket finals with a three-game victory over the 1986 Philadelphia Phillies, closing out Bracket 32 and sending the Braves into the tournament’s grand Final 32 field. The Braves rode the same formula that carried them through the bracket: firm starting pitching and timely power.
Matt Olson was named Most Valuable Player of the final series.
Asked whether he ever imagined as a kid that he would one day win a Bash Bracket championship, Olson smiled.
“I think 10-year-old Matt would think this is really cool,” he said.
As for Atlanta’s chances in the Final 32, Olson sounded like a player whose club had earned its confidence.
“I am confident we will do well,” Olson said. “Obviously, success is going to breed confidence, personally and as a team.”
Bracket 32 will also be remembered as one of the wildest statistical showcases in Bash history. Charlie Robertson of the 1923 White Sox threw a no-hitter. Harmon Killebrew delivered a three-homer game and set a Bash record with nine RBIs. Rube Waddell struck out a Bash-record 14 batters in one game. And Luke Easter broke his own Municipal Stadium distance mark with a 540-foot drive off Bert Blyleven.
Blyleven, was asked afterward what he thought when Easter’s blast finally landed.
“I should have thrown him one of my boomerang curveballs,” Blyleven said. “At least then it might have come back.”
