For months, it’s felt like the sky was falling in Atlanta, and this postseason has been no different. Jorge Soler missed the final game of the NLDS and most of the NLCS because of an untimely COVID diagnosis. Huascar Ynoa was pulled from his Game 4 start in the NLCS and announced out for the season with an arm injury. And now, Braves ace Charlie Morton will miss the rest of the World Series after suffering a broken fibula in Game 1. It should be impossible to overcome, especially since Mike Soroka, Ronald Acuña, and Marcell Ozuna are already missing for the season, but somehow the Braves keep winning.
After the game, several members of the team commented on Morton’s injury, including Morton himself, but there were a few I wanted to highlight to show just how valuable he has been to the Braves this season. Here’s what Travis d’Arnaud had to say:
#Braves catcher Travis d'Arnaud on the impact of losing Charlie Morton for the remainder of the #WorldSeries: pic.twitter.com/CziJgNbOc9
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) October 27, 2021
d’Arnaud also had a legendary quote regarding the Braves bullpen, which has come alive since the All-Star break and into the postseason.
Travis d’Arnaud on the Braves relievers: “Every single person in that bullpen has a huge heart, has huge fight. I don't know if I'm supposed to say this, but they've all got big nuts too.” (Ever polite, he apologized to MLB PR for the language as he left the room.)
— Emma Baccellieri (@emmabaccellieri) October 27, 2021
Suppose you haven’t gotten the picture yet. In that case, this Braves team has enormous balls, and it’s the primary reason they have been able to overcome so much adversity this season, which is why Charlie Morton knows there will not be any excuses no matter what happens in this series.
“We’ll just keep going and figure this out and piece it together, like we’ve done all year,. There won’t be any excuses — no matter what the outcome is.”
Charlie Morton suffers a broken leg.
The sky keeps falling.
The Braves keep winning.
https://t.co/3YEQqJHNwe— Jeff Schultz (@JeffSchultzATL) October 27, 2021
Even though his previous postseason success should have already proven this, there’s no questioning that Charlie Morton is an absolute gamer. He broke his fibula and continued to get out three straight batters, including two strikeouts, while still throwing 97 MPH. That’s something only true psychopaths can do, and Snitker told the media afterward that he was hell-bent on going back out there for the third inning.
“He wanted to keep going. He was down in the tunnel throwing against the wall and said that it hurt more when he ran, but it was okay when he threw.” “I hate it for him, I REALLY hate it for him.” – Brian Snitker on Charlie Morton pic.twitter.com/CFY6404yam
— Maria Martin (@Ria_Martin) October 27, 2021
There’s no reason to act like losing Morton isn’t a crippling blow in many ways. However, for some reason, I’m not too worried about it. The Braves have overcome so much this season; I’m not sure they are phased by anything. Maybe to us common folk, it feels impossible for them to win the World Series, but this team is anything but ordinary. And as Joc Pederson wrote in the Player’s Tribune before Game 1, they might just be those motherfuckers.
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