Braves' late-season stats show they may be favorites to repeat as World Series champions

Two values that will forever be associated with the 2022 MLB season are "62" and "10.5." The first, of course, represents the number of home runs New York Yankees All-Star Aaron Judge slugged to set a new American League single-season record, while "10.5" is the number of games by which the Atlanta Braves trailed the New York Mets in the National League East standings at the start of June before the Braves ultimately won the division in the campaign's final week. 

Much has and will continue to be said about how the Mets "choked," but numerous statistics seem to show that the defending world champions could've overtaken just about any foe considering their run since June 1. For a piece published Friday, ESPN's Paul Hembekides argued such numbers are why the Braves should be considered the favorites to win this year's World Series and successfully defend their crown.

"Home runs are baseball's most valuable currency, and the Braves have that market cornered," Hembekides pointed out. "Since June 1, they own the best record in MLB (78-34) behind a plus-72 home run differential (highest in majors). Teams are 156-26 (.857 win percentage) in the postseason when outhomering their opponent since 2016."

The Braves finished second to win the 2022 World Series in votes submitted by members of the ESPN panel. While 10 people chose Atlanta, 12 went with the Los Angeles Dodgers side that finished the regular season with 111 victories and the best overall record in MLB. 

"The Dodgers finished with the second-best bullpen ERA in the majors (2.87)," David Schoenfield noted for ESPN. 

Schoenfield added that the Dodgers "outscored their opponents by a whopping 334 runs — the highest differential since the 1939 Yankees" and began Friday's playoff action as "the best team in baseball." 

The Braves may have something to say about that when they begin the best-of-five NL Division Series against either the Philadelphia Phillies or St. Louis Cardinals Tuesday.