How Olson's steadiness has helped Braves right the ship 

ATLANTA -- Matt Olson needs to homer 19 times over the final 50 games to secure his second 50-homer season within the past four years. That’s a little optimistic, right?

“He’s done it before,” Braves center fielder Michael Harris II said. “He knows how to get there. He’s homered in three straight games, so if he homers every day for the rest of the season, he might even get a 100, or 90 or something. You never know. Some games he might have two in a game. But he’s never had three. So, he probably can get there.”

There was plenty of reason for the Braves to feel jovial after they completed a four-game series sweep with a 4-2 win over the Nationals on Sunday afternoon at Truist Park. They were fueled once again by Olson, who homered in each of the final three games of this division matchup and now is tied for fourth among all MLB players with 31 home runs.

“He’s become one of the best players in the game, when you take everything into consideration,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “He changes the game on defense and he obviously changes the game in the [batter’s] box. He’s a leader in that clubhouse and he posts every day.”

That last compliment highlights one of the game’s most impressive stats. In this “load management” era, Olson has played every game going back to May 2, 2021. He’s played in 894 consecutive games. He’ll match Stan Musial for the eighth-longest streak of all time when he’s back at first base for Tuesday’s series opener against the Marlins.

Along with being present every day, Olson has continued to play at an elite level. He entered Sunday tied with his Atlanta predecessor Freddie Freeman for the NL’s 12th-best fWAR (3.3). His 58 extra-base hits ties him with Yordan Alvarez for the MLB lead and his 31 homers have only been topped only by Alvarez (35), Hunter Goodman (33) and Kyle Schwarber (33).

Most impressive is that he didn’t selfishly think about his stats when his right elbow limited him for a stretch in May and June. Instead, he stuck to his commitment to be on the field on a daily basis.

“Nobody is going to be at 100 percent,” Olson said. “But if you can raise the bar of what your 100 percent is going to be going into the season, you’ll be in a better spot. You’ll be at 90 percent a week or two into Spring Training and by this time of year, you’re going to be day-to-day.”

Olson might be going through the dog days of summer, but he is showing no signs of fatigue. He has homered six times over 16 games since the All-Star break, four times within the past six games and three times over the past three games.

“To me, it's just always hitting pitches that you should,” Olson said.

Ronald Acuña Jr. has missed significant time. Austin Riley has struggled offensively and rotation concerns have existed since October. Yet, the Braves are 22 games above .500 and they own an eight-game lead in the NL East.

Olson’s power surge has helped the Braves win 12 of 17 games since the All-Star break. Their success over the past couple weeks has seemingly enhanced the need to bolster their rotation with a significant acquisition before Monday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline.

This is the second time Olson has hit at least 31 homers through his first 112 games of a season. The only previous time was during his 54-homer season in 2023, when he had hit 39 homers at this same point.

So, is it realistic to think Olson could hit 19 more homers ? Well, he hit 25 homers in a 50-game span in 2023 and he hit 15 in one 50-game span this year.

Maybe Harris was right. You never know.