A Tale of Two Teams: What the Atlanta Braves Can Learn from the Giants' Success

A lot has been made over the course of the 2009 season about how the Atlanta Braves and the San Fransisco Giants both need to add a big bat to their line-ups. These thoughts are certainly not misplaced. Through 90 games for the Braves and 89 games for the Giants they both have shown a propensity for spotty, mediocre hitting. They sport team batting averages of .261 and .262 respectively, good for fifth and sixth in the NL. They are however two of the worst teams when it comes to home runs and slugging percentage. The offense of the Giants though has been even worse than the Braves. They rank last in walks and 15th in on-base percentage in the NL. They have also scored 20 less runs than the Braves have this season. Despite the fact that their offense is worse than Atlanta's, the Giants still command a record of nine games over .500 while the Braves have just broken even. How can that be? One word: Pitching. While the Braves have had great pitching this season, the Giants pitchin...