Matt Olson Just Walk-Off Blasted the Tigers and the Braves' Record Is Getting Harder to Ignore

The Atlanta Braves are on an absolute tear, and Matt Olson just reminded everyone why they're the team to beat right now. Olson crushed a two-run walk-off homer off Kenley Jansen in the ninth inning to seal a 4-3 win over Detroit on Wednesday night at Truist Park. It was Olson's fourth career walk-off blast, but the first he's hit since joining Atlanta before the 2022 season.

This is what a team rolling looks like. The Braves own MLB's best record at 22-9 through their first 31 games. The only other team in franchise history to reach 22 wins that fast? The 1997 Braves. That's the company you're in when you're playing like this.

Olson Is Having a Season for the History Books

Through early April, Olson is hitting .306 with nine homers and a 1.017 OPS. Manager Walt Weiss is careful not to overstate it, but he's close. "I want to be careful saying this is as good as I've seen him because in '23, he was ridiculous," Weiss said. In 2023, Olson set franchise records with 54 home runs and 139 RBIs. This year? He's swinging it with real authority early.

The lineup is humming. Drake Baldwin, Michael Harris II, Dominic Smith, and Ozzie Albies are helping the Braves score a league-leading 175 runs. But Olson is the engine. In that ninth-inning at-bat, he was hunting for one specific thing. "I saw Ozzie swing over top of a couple of [Jansen's cutters]," Olson said. "So, I was wondering if that pitch didn't get that same carry today." He guessed right. Jansen left one out over the middle, and Olson took it the other way. The ball barely cleared the right-center-field wall into the Atlanta bullpen. Statcast said it would've been a home run in just 12 of 30 ballparks. In Atlanta? It was everything.

The Braves Are Finding Ways to Win Games They Shouldn't

Albies started the ninth with a walk off his former Braves teammate. That set the table for Olson. But this team has been winning games like this all month. Weiss put it perfectly: "When you have good years, you tend to have wins like that. You look back and there's 10 or 12 games that you won that you necessarily shouldn't have."

The magic is real in Atlanta right now. And Olson knows what it does to a lineup. "Success is going to breed confidence, personally and as a team," he said. "It's nice when you're playing winning baseball and you don't feel like you have to be the guy every single night. That takes stuff off your plate and it actually helps everybody in the lineup."

With the Braves sitting at 22-9, they're not just winning. They're winning the right way, and it's starting to look like October baseball is coming to Atlanta sooner rather than later.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.