Phillies news and rumors 6/18: Braves manager Brian Snitker comments on NL East race

Brian Snitker has his sights set on another NL East crown. (Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire)

The last time Brian Snitker made a bold proclamation about the Braves, inherently at the Phillies’ expense, Philadelphia eliminated his team in a four-game NLDS about a month later and turned said proclamation into somewhat of a freezing cold take. So take this latest one with a grain of salt.

A reporter asked the Braves’ manager on Monday about any potential silver linings of his club playing in a Wild Card Series, and Snitker was unambiguous in his response.

“I’m not planning on doing a Wild Card Series,” he said. “We’re planning on winning the East.”

As they should be. It is June 18 and the Braves are still one of the best teams in baseball — even if their offense is merely good and not otherworldly, and even if they’ve lost their best two players for the season. The Phillies’ eight-game lead in the division is large, not insurmountable. Atlanta has won the last six NL East titles and pedigree means something.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson knows all too well that it’s possible to blow a division lead that’s greater than the current one and later into the season. He said as much toward the end of May. Monday notwithstanding, the Phillies haven’t played their best baseball of late and the schedule will get tougher. In short: The division is far, far from over.

Snitker later added an aside on a topic he’s discussed before. “I hope we have to figure out the five days off again,” he said, according to Maria Martin of 11Alive News. That, of course, is a reference to the waiting period because the regular season and the NLDS that caused Snitker in March to say he doesn’t like the postseason system. (Of course, if Snitker was given the opportunity to turn down those off days down after winning the division, he wouldn’t.)

To his credit, Snitker implied as much in March, and he did so again on Monday. He wants the off days. And he’s not going to let an eight-game margin in mid-June make him lose hope that he’ll get them.

Rightfully so. Don’t be shocked if things get slightly more tense in the Delaware Valley over the next few months. If not, great: The Phillies will have to “figure out” the off days and likely welcome the Braves into their house for an NLDS that will, again, settle the score for real.

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