Atlanta, GA

Max Fried Returns to Form When Atlanta Braves Need Him Down the Stretch

Published

1 year ago

August 22, 2024

Max Fried Returns to Form When Atlanta Braves Need Him Down the Stretch

The Atlanta Braves dropped Wednesday night’s game to the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2, after watching the 2-0 lead slip.

Despite the loss, there was a positive takeaway. Starting pitcher Max Fried is looking like his All-Star self again. He pitched seven innings of two-run ball giving up four hits and one walk while striking out four. He threw 61 of his 91 pitches on the night for strikes (67%).

“Definitely felt like myself. I was commanding the ball on both sides of the plate. It was nice to get back under myself,” Fried said after the game Wednesday.

While he felt good about his outing, he wasn’t completely satisfied.

“We’re in the results time of the year. Wish I was able to hold that lead tonight – get a win. Because ideally, I would like to take the ball and have us win.”

It’s admirable that Fried has a sense of accountability, but the Braves offense didn’t give him the run support. In the end, the Phillies were held to 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position and left just one runner on base. The opportunities were not abundant for them. However, the Braves went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position while also leaving nine men on base.

One team took advantage of what they could muster. The other team, who had more chances, couldn’t get it done. But if this is how Fried is pitching, they’ll win more often than not. The Braves are 13-9 when he starts after all.

Fried has the confidence in his team to get in the win column down the stretch.

“We’re playing good, hard baseball. We’re in a lot of games right now. I feel like if we keep playing like this, things are going to be going our way.”

Having their ace return to form will go a long way to have things go their way. The Braves are hanging on to a playoff spot for dear life with the Mets still on their heels. Their lead over the Mets was shaved to 1.5 games after New York won Wednesday. They have a key series against them at the end of September, but they still have to be in the hunt a month from now.

Getting some big wins against the Phillies and taking advantage of the favorable schedule would do the trick.

They have the rotation to get them to the playoffs and then put everyone on notice with a run in October.

If Fried stays in top form, he, Sale and Lopez could be a three-headed monster down the stretch. Three starters are all you need for a postseason series too.

That’s a win from each starter in a best-of-five series. In a best-of-seven, you have them for the early games to go up in the series and have them rested for a game six or seven when backs are against the wall or to finish the series off and clinch.

Sure, the run support wasn’t there in the recent loss, but a couple timely runs might be all the team needs when these guys are on the bump.

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Atlanta, GA

Falcons deny Cowboys’ request to interview DC Jeff Ulbrich, per report

Published

1 hour ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Falcons deny Cowboys’ request to interview DC Jeff Ulbrich, per report

The Atlanta Falcons are in the process of hiring a new head coach and general manager, but that doesn’t mean the team is completely cleaning house. Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich has done an incredible job with the Falcons defense since replacing Jimmy Lake in the offseason.

The Falcons would prefer to keep Ulbrich, as team owner Arthur Blank stated, but the new head coach will have the final say. According to a report from ESPN’s Todd Archer, Atlanta blocked the Dallas Cowboys’ request to interview Ulbrich on Thursday.

“The Cowboys were denied by Atlanta to talk with Jeff Ulbrich for DC job, according to sources,” wrote Archer. “He remains under contract [with] the Falcons despite their search for a head coach. A potential interview can be revisited later if they hire a [head coach], who has a different coordinator in mind.”

Blank discussed Ulbrich’s impact during his Thursday press conference and said he was impressed with the work he did with the team’s rookie draft class. James Pearce Jr. led all rookies in sacks with 10.5 this season, while third-round pick Xavier Watts racked up a rookie-high five interceptions as the team’s starting safety.

“You can’t dictate to the new head coach who their coordinators would be, but I’d certainly recommend to the new head coach to consider Ulbrich,” Blank said of the Falcons’ current defensive coordinator.

It sounds like the Falcons aren’t going to let Ulbrich out of their sights, and it’s hard to blame them. The Falcons defensive coordinator helped the team record a franchise-record 57 sacks this season, just one year after finishing 31st in the NFL with just 31 sacks.

Follow along with each request and interview with our Falcons head coach tracker.

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Atlanta, GA

What the $245M refinance of a Midtown office tower signals for Atlanta

Published

13 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

What the 5M refinance of a Midtown office tower signals for Atlanta

Business

The tower at 1105 W. Peachtree St., which bears Google’s logo, recently secured a new loan at a time many landlords are struggling to do so.

1105 West Peachtree (Google Tower in Midtown) is shown Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Atlanta. The Google Tower is one of the developments done by Selig Enterprises. (Jason Getz/AJC)

It hasn’t been easy the past few years to be an office landlord.

Many tenants shrunk their workspaces coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning buildings that lost rental revenue also lost value. Interest rates surged. Many banks got gun shy over having too much money lent to office tower owners, and a whole lot of loans have been coming due.

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The tower at 1105 W Peachtree St. in Midtown Atlanta is one of the city’s newest office buildings.

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Zachary Hansen, a Georgia native, covers economic development and commercial real estate for the AJC. He’s been with the newspaper since 2018 and enjoys diving into complex stories that affect people’s lives.

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Atlanta, GA

Atlanta meth lab kingpin sentenced to 30 years after massive seizure

Published

1 day ago

January 7, 2026

Press Room

Atlanta meth lab kingpin sentenced to 30 years after massive seizure

ATLANTA – A Mexican national will spend the next 30 years in federal prison for operating clandestine methamphetamine laboratories across the Atlanta area, federal officials announced Wednesday.

What we know:

Ramiro Contreras-Sandoval, 41, of Michoacán, Mexico, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross following his conviction for running conversion labs that housed more than 135 kilograms of liquid methamphetamine hidden in paint buckets. Contreras-Sandoval, who also went by several aliases including Manuel Santiago Vazquez and “Mirin,” was also convicted of possessing firearms as an illegal alien to protect his drug trafficking operation.

The investigation began in April 2019, when law enforcement seized the methamphetamine mixture from a conversion lab in Morrow, Georgia. Contreras-Sandoval and his co-defendant, Genaro Davalos-Pulido, fled the area after a vehicle they were using to transport the drugs was stopped by police.

The pair remained at large until the fall of 2021, when agents tracked them to a neighborhood in Norcross, Georgia. During a search of a Norcross residence, agents discovered a full-scale liquid meth operation, a loaded Beretta handgun, $84,000 in cash, and a .50-caliber rifle that appeared ready for shipment to Mexico. Contreras-Sandoval was arrested nearby with approximately $12,000 in his vehicle and pockets.

What they’re saying:

“This case should send a clear message to anyone thinking about running drugs or using deadly weapons to protect their operation: the federal government will relentlessly seek justice and protect the community from drug traffickers,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg.

“Operating methamphetamine labs is a reckless and dangerous crime,” said Jae W. Chung, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Division. “This conviction underscores that DEA will aggressively pursue anyone who engages in drug trafficking activities that put lives at risk.”

What’s next:

Contreras-Sandoval’s 30-year sentence will be followed by five years of supervised release. His co-defendant, Davalos-Pulido, previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in October 2024.

The Source: The U.S. Attorney’s Public Affairs Office provided the details for this article.

AtlantaNewsCrime and Public Safety

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