ATLANTA — The Braves might have MLB’s best offensive duo in Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna, both of whom made MVP and even triple crown pushes across the truncated season.
Ozuna homered in Sunday’s regular-season finale, which the Braves lost 9-1 to the Red Sox at Truist Park, and finished leading the National League in home runs (18) and RBIs (56). He fell shy of the first NL triple crown in 83 years with a .338 average. Juan Soto led the NL with a .351 mark.
Ozuna became the first Braves player to lead the NL in homers and RBIs since Andruw Jones in 2005.
The NL’s second highest average? Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, who hit .341 after going 1-for-4 in the finale. Freeman and Ozuna became perhaps MLB’s best pair of mashers, doing a ton of damage in a lineup that missed Ozzie Albies for over a month and Ronald Acuna for 11 games during a key stretch in August.
Freeman, Ozuna and their teammates will now shift their focus to the postseason, where the Braves will try to win their first postseason series since 2001. The Braves finished 35-25, earning the NL’s No. 2 seed, and will host the Reds in a best-of-three at Truist Park beginning Wednesday.
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