The Braves are on fire.
The Atlanta Braves are rolling, and Matt Olson made sure everyone knew it on Wednesday night.
Olson launched a two-run walk-off home run off Tigers closer Kenley Jansen in the ninth inning, a 397-foot shot into Atlanta's bullpen that gave the Braves a 4-3 win.
Ozzie Albies had walked to lead off the frame, and Olson ended it with his ninth homer of the season.
After the game, Olson spoke about what this stretch has meant for the clubhouse.
"Obviously success is going to breed confidence, personally and as a team," Olson said. "It's nicer when you're playing winning baseball and you don't feel like you have to be the guy every single night. That takes stuff off your plate and it actually helps everybody in the lineup. If we keep winning ballgames, hopefully we can keep snowballing this confidence until the end of the year."
Olson is Backing It Up
The quote wouldn't mean anything if Olson were not producing, but his numbers tell a different story.
Through 31 games, the first baseman is slashing .296/.374/.609 with nine home runs and 25 RBI.
His .983 OPS leads the Atlanta lineup, and coming off a down 2025, this version of Olson looks a lot more like the guy who hit 54 home runs in 2023.
What makes the walk-off that much better is that Olson had been kept quiet by Tarik Skubal for most of the night.
Skubal struck him out in the seventh, and for long stretches it looked like Atlanta had no answer for the two-time Cy Young winner.
But the Braves stuck around and made Jansen pay in the ninth, which is something this team has done all month.
Why Atlanta Might Be the NL's Best
At 22-9, the Braves own the best record in baseball and a seven-game lead in the NL East.
Their run differential sits at plus-69, which leads all of MLB, and their 3.05 team ERA ranks first in the National League.
The offense is scoring 5.65 runs per game, also tops in the league.
And this is a team still waiting on reinforcements. Spencer Strider is expected to make his 2026 debut soon, and closer Raisel Iglesias is nearing a return from a shoulder injury.
With role players like Dominic Smith stepping up and the pitching staff holding opponents down, this roster has depth that most teams in the National League simply cannot match.
Olson's walk-off was the exclamation point on another good night for a club that keeps finding ways to win.
If confidence really does snowball the way he described, the rest of the NL has good reason to be nervous about what this team looks like by October.