‘There’s no egos here’: Braves lead NL East by 9 games, first team to 30 wins

Walt Weiss, like any quality manager, was not going to give in to the peppering of questions about just how good his team is at this point of the season.

He won’t speak about what may be in store for this club over the next four-plus months, or about World Series possibilities, or postseason berths, or having won 30 times in 43 games.

There’s no denying though that something special is conjuring at Truist Park, even if Weiss won’t allow himself to dream about the approaching future.

“I don’t ever get too far ahead of myself. I don’t look at the big picture like that,” he said Wednesday after the Braves beat the Cubs, won a series for the 12th time in 14 tries and became MLB’s first 30-win team. “You’re so engrossed in the day-to-day. My mind is always operating in about a 24-hour window. I don’t really get beyond that.

“It’s hard to look at it like that, you know, thinking about getting to 30 wins and stuff. Those are things you never think about. It’s just, you want to play well each day, and you want to attack each day the best you can. And these guys are doing that. I’ve mentioned how they confront every challenge that comes our way, whether it’s schedule, whether it’s injuries, whether it’s a change in a role, these guys have taken all those challenges, they’ve embraced them and they’ve taken ‘em head on.”

Wednesday’s win, against a Cubs team that had won 10 in a row before dropping two of three to the Rangers in Texas last weekend, epitomized Braves baseball in 2026.

Sandy León, a backup catcher who had been playing in the Mexican League before signing with the Braves, was in the starting lineup and got a single in the third inning. He also caught eight innings.

José Azócar, thrown onto the roster because Ronald Acuña Jr. and Eli White are both on the injured list, had a third-inning hit and made a running, sliding catch in the right-field gap at the start of the fourth.

Rookie right-handed starting pitcher J.R. Ritchie left with one out in the fourth without having allowed a run. Martín Pérez, who started a game a week ago in Seattle and could be in line to start again this weekend against the Red Sox, came in from the Braves’ bullpen and struck out two in a 1-2-3 sixth.

Mike Yastrzemski, slow out of the gates offensively to start his first season with the Braves and who had three RBIs in Tuesday’s win, broke a 1-1 tie in the eighth with a pinch-hit RBI double.

“It’s been so fun to play here so far. Can’t say enough about the guys in this room,” Yastrzemski said. “I mean, you talk about tenacious, guys want it, everybody plays the game the right way in this locker room. You can’t ever pull for anybody harder than everybody in here pulls for each other. It’s been awesome.”

And then there’s Mauricio Dubón.

The Braves got Dubón from the Astros in November in exchange for Nick Allen, not the most notable offseason move by the franchise, to say the least.

Dubón was likely to be a backup to everyday shortstop Ha-Seong Kim and a utility option off the bench. Then Kim hurt his finger in January and has played just two games since coming off the injured list Tuesday.

All Dubón has done for the Braves is hit .263 with an OPS of .735, drive in 25 runs, play shortstop, third base, left field and center field and hit three homers, the last of which sent Truist Park into a frenzy Wednesday as it sailed into the visitors’ bullpen, giving the Braves a 4-1 lead over the Cubs.

“It comes from (Weiss), honestly, straight from the top,” Dubón said about having the confidence to come through in those type of moments. “I mean, the culture he’s put in this clubhouse, the way he gives us his support and everything, I think that’s why everybody’s trying to go out there and grind. He trusts you in that situation.

“I think in years past for, in that situation, I woulda got pinch-hit (for) right there. I think that’s the confidence he gives you when you’re playing.”

In 2003, the Braves also started 30-13. That team won 101 games before losing in the NLDS to the Cubs when they ran into pitchers Kerry Wood and Mark Prior.

The ’03 team only had a three-game lead in the NL East after 43 games and 30 wins. This year’s team is up nine games in the standings on the Nationals, 10 on the Phillies and Marlins and 12½ on the Mets going into Thursday’s schedule.

The last three teams to have at least an eight-game division lead by May 13 — the 2017 Astros, 2016 Cubs and 2007 Red Sox — all won a World Series.

The Braves are making a strong case to be the fourth team on that list, and the complementary baseball is a major reason why.

“I think the way that happens is there’s no egos here,” Yastrzemski said. “Nobody feels like they own any piece of this team. We’re all pulling on the same rope together, same direction, and whatever opportunities come for you that day, then that’s good enough.