'Everything is possible': Acu?a inches closer to 40-40 club

ATLANTA -- Somewhere in the midst of the Braves’ latest homer fest, Ronald Acuña Jr. created reason to believe he might indeed join the exclusive 40-40 club and become its most unique member.

Acu?a accounted for two of the five homers the Braves drilled while snapping a three-game skid in an 8-5 win over the Cardinals on Thursday night at Truist Park. His third multihomer game of the season left him six home runs shy of recording the fifth 40-homer, 40-steal season in AL/NL history.

“I’ve been playing with Ronald since 2016, and at this point, nothing really surprises me anymore,” Braves starter Max Fried said. “He’s that talented, and he’s that good. He’s always been capable of doing it, but to actually have the season he’s having so far and to come so close to that accomplishment, doesn’t surprise me, but it’s also extremely impressive. He can get as hot as anyone.”

• Games remaining: vs. PIT (3), at PHI (4), at MIA (3), vs. PHI (3), at WSH (4), vs. CHC (3), vs. WSH (3)
• Standings update: The Braves lead the second-place Phillies by 14 games in the National League East race. Atlanta is currently the top NL division winner, meaning it would receive a first-round bye and face the winner of the No. 4 and No. 5 Wild Card teams in a five-game NL Division Series starting on Oct. 7.
• Magic number for postseason berth: 3; Magic number for division title: 10

Acu?a has five homers in his past seven games. But he hasn’t been quite as hot as Matt Olson, who has homered in four straight games to increase his MLB-leading home run total to 47. This matches Hank Aaron (1971) and Eddie Mathews (1953) for the second-highest total in franchise history. It also puts him four away from the franchise record Andruw Jones set in 2005.

“That’s pretty good company,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.

Michael Harris II and Travis d’Arnaud also went deep for the Braves. It was the 10th time Atlanta has hit at least five homers in a game this season -- an MLB best. The Astros rank second with seven such games.

With this latest outburst, the Braves are on pace for 314 homers, which is seven more than the MLB record the Twins set in 2019.

Acu?a homered against Adam Wainwright’s first pitch of the game to record his sixth leadoff home run of the season and the 32nd of his career. The Braves right fielder added another first-pitch solo shot off Wainwright in the sixth to increase his season home run total to 34. He also has an MLB-leading 63 stolen bases.

“It's probably the first time in my career where a guy hits a homer off you on a pitch and then is ready for the same pitch the next at-bat,” Wainwright said. “Usually they think they get you off of it, and you can go back to it. But I mean, I executed that perfectly. The ball is down and away, off the plate and down, and he hit it out to center. It’s amazing. I mean it's really impressive what he can do.”

Acu?a became the first player ever to tally 30-plus homers and 60-plus stolen bases this past weekend at Dodger Stadium. If he hits six more homers, he’ll join Jose Canseco (1988), Barry Bonds (1996), Alex Rodriguez (1998) and Alfonso Soriano (2006) as the only players to record a 40-40 season. None of those four players stole more than 46 bases during their 40-homer seasons.

So, Acu?a could become the first member of the 40-60 club, or maybe even the 40-70 club.

“Everything is possible,” Acu?a said. “[40-40] was never the goal. But now that it's within sight, it would be nice. But with the season being at the end and the numbers being where they are, it feels like we’re getting tight and running out of time.”

Can Acu?a homer six times over the final 23 games, or just one more time than he has over the past seven games? He homered 12 times during a 23-game span from July 21-Aug. 15, 2019. He hit nine homers over a 23-game span this year, as recently as June 10-July 5.

“Nothing he’s going to do is going to surprise me,” Snitker said.

Acu?a is already in uncharted waters. Before this year, nobody had ever recorded more than 52 stolen bases during a 30-homer season. Nor had anybody tallied more than 28 homers while collecting at least 60 stolen bases in a season.

But now that Acu?a is that close, adding 40-40 to his NL MVP resume certainly seems appealing.

“You see the work he puts in every day,” Fried said. “He doesn’t take an at-bat off. Day in and day out, being able to take the field and impact the game the way that he does is the most impressive thing.”