2 3 4 in the Southeastern United States last consistently good for fewer starts week, that was the collective gasp/ (three, to be exact). groan/heart palpitations of the entirety One of those two young of Braves Country. pitchers would probably not garner Mercifully, he was only taken much of a second thought as the out due to precautionary measures (the postseason begins but the fact that Braves had clinched the East already). the Braves are relying on two such The Braves Cy Young candidate, the pitchers along with their ace barely he Atlanta Braves won undefeated Fried will prevent Brian being out of his own rookie season their thirdT straight NL East title and Snitker from having to run a rookie and nary a veteran in sight is cause are into the playoffs. with only five career starts out for for concern. Now this isn’t an unexpected Game 1 of the playoffs. Sure, the pitchers all have development, as the Braves were the That being said, let’s look at excellent stuff and are capable of favorites to win the East going into the rest of the rotation. shutting down any other team’s offense the season, but in practice it took a For four innings a week and a but with such small sample sizes, lot more work than many would have half ago, it seemed like Cole Hamels they’re simply still unknown quantities. thought. The road to the playoffs was would be taking the mound for a Which means Atlanta will a different route than it maybe should postseason start, but after making be leaning on its historically good have been. his one and only appearance for the offense, its exceptional defense, and In any case, the Braves will Braves this season, Hamels went right it’s excellent bullpen to help them win face off against the seventh seeded back to the Injured List and that was their first postseason series in nearly team at Truist Park, with ace Max that. two decades and advance deep into Fried taking the mound, and thank So instead, Ian Anderson is the playoffs. god for that. likely to start Game 2. He’s looked And those elements are all Fried, who will be the wily great in his short time in Atlanta terrific. If Atlanta had made it through veteran of the team’s postseason and there’s nothing inherently 2020 with the rotation they’d hoped rotation with about a year and a half concerning about having someone for way back in February, they might of being a rotation mainstay under his that inexperienced start in a playoff be unstoppable favorites to win the belt, left his last start of the regular game, but we also can’t pretend that World Series. season after the first inning because we know what to expect. As it stands right now, they’re he twisted his ankle fielding a ball. And really any concern about a team with question marks at the If you happened to feel a Anderson starting is compacted with most important place when it comes shockwave reverberated anywhere the fact that Game 3, if necessary, will to the postseason. be started by Kyle Wright. He’s been 5 2816 when he came off the bench last September when he led a huge 4th quarter comeback against Kentucky in Lexington after Feleipe Franks went down with a season ending leg injury. Other than the 2018 classic seven overtime win over LSU, you haven’t seen that confidence in Kellen EC football junkies tune Mond in his entire Aggie career. into theS SEC network to soak up all Mond is a pretty good QB, of the information we can regarding don’t get me wrong, but when the big the upcoming season. games on the schedule roll around he The SEC Network talking just doesn’t seem like a confident QB heads are asked their opinion on a in those games. variety of topics and one of those Mond led the Aggies to an 8-5 record topics I heard recently was ‘who was in 2018 with a Texas Bowl win over the best returning quarterback in the Oklahoma State. SEC going into the 2020 season?’ Trask led Florida to an 11-2 That question has been raised record that included an Orange Bowl on the network and the answer given win over Virginia. by one of the talking heads was Kellen Even in the two losses against Mond of Texas A&M. LSU and Georgia, Trask handled the I raised up in my chair and pressure of those two games well. said ‘no way, can that be true’ because Yes, we know the SEC West the obvious answer to that question is a better division than the SEC East from my perspective is Kyle Trask currently. from the University of Florida. Florida travels to Texas A&M Let’s do some stat comparisons on October 10th to play the Aggies. from 2019: This game will match up the two top returning QB’s from 2019. Kyle Trask: Kellen Mond: This will be a huge road game CMP: 237 CMP: 258 for Florida as the Gators deal with ATT: 354 ATT: 419 high expectations in the SEC East YDS: 2,941 YDS: 2,897 for the first time in 4 years. CMP%: 66.9 CMP%: 61.6 Dan Mullen is building this TD: 25 TD: 20 thing back at UF and this game INT: 7 INT: 9 in College Station will be a huge measuring stick as to where they are. As you look at the stats on The Aggies have to take the paper you will see that the yards were next step in 2020 or the heat may similar between the two starting begin to build under Jimbo Fisher. I quarterbacks. expect this to be a classic game. You will notice that Trask had Let me leave you with this a much higher completion percentage question about this contest. With the than Mond. game on the line in the 4th quarter, The most glaring stat is that which QB do you want under center Trask threw for more touchdowns 25 Mond or Trask? Give me Kyle Trask to 20 on 65 less passing attempts. please. The thing that separates Trask Kyle Trask is the best returning right now from Mond, in my opinion, QB in the SEC. is confidence. Here come the Auburn fans Confidence is a quality at the whining about how I have disrespected QB position that brings calm to the Bo Nix. rest of the football team. You could see it in Trask 7 Playing Sports? Practice Extra Precaution During COVID-19 A new school year always brings anticipation and sometimes, a bit of apprehension. That is especially true this school year as we find ourselves coping with the coronavirus. School re-openings gained more attention than ever this year, but Beau Sasser, M.D., has been preparing all along to get athletes back in the game. Dr. Sasser is a board-certified orthopaedic surgeon at Summit Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Surgery, and medical director of Southeast Georgia Health System Sports Medicine. “I work with our local athletic directors and high schools and we follow CDC guidelines by encouraging hand washing, masks and distancing where possible. We advise staying home if an athlete or a family member feels ill. Every sport has inherent risks. Unfortunately, COVID-19 adds an extra risk,” Dr. Sasser says. Taking proactive steps It may reassure parents and athletes to know what proactive, protective steps Dr. Sasser and local athletic directors are taking. Working with the Georgia High School Association (GHSA), they developed guidelines in addition to those suggested by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The steps include properly cleaning sports equipment between uses and limiting locker room time. “Athletes are encouraged to show up and leave in uniform, as they would do as part of a recreational sports team,” Dr. Sasser says. Water relief stations are cleaned regularly and placed apart from each other to allow for social distancing. Athletes are also discouraged from sharing water bottles. With help from local health departments, Dr. Sasser and the athletic directors developed a contact tracing system. “We created an Excel spreadsheet that checks every player for their temperature and possible symptoms, when they arrive and when they leave.” Concerned parents may want to minimize their child’s risk by directing them toward activities that require less person-to-person contact. Dr. Sasser suggests softball, baseball, soccer, golf, tennis, cross country running or the sailing team. Playing sports is still essential Precautions aside, he believes that COVID-19 requires innovative thinking until a vaccine is introduced. “We need to find ways that allow us to function as people. The NFL is working on a filtration mask that allows people to work out while masked.” Sports are essential to the health and well-being of young people. Even before the pandemic, Dr. Sasser’s goal as a sports medicine specialist was keeping athletes safe. In this current environment, he continues to minimize risk not only for athletes, but for their families as well. While acknowledging COVID concerns, Dr. Sasser, a father of four boys, recognizes the importance of sports. “They need to run and play to get their energy out.” Summit Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Surgery has offices in Brunswick, St. Simons Island and St. Marys. For more information or to schedule an appointment, call 912-466-7340 or visit sghs.org/ summit. 8 9 16 postseason. But for the sake of argument, let’s briefly look at how they’re going to win their inevitable third Commissioner’s Trophy.