Braves grab NL East title, beat Cubs 5-2

Braves grab NL East title, beat Cubs 5-2

Freddie Freeman stood at the front of the cramped visiting clubhouse at Wrigley Field. Wearing a champagne-soaked gray T-shirt celebrating Atlanta's NL East title, the big first baseman dreamed of more parties next month.

"This is only one celebration of four, hopefully," he said with a grin.

Atlanta wrapped up the division crown, and then rode two homers by Andrelton Simmons to a 5-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs that touched off a wild party for the victorious Braves.

Sunday's game was in the sixth inning when Washington lost 4-2 to Miami, giving the Braves their first NL East championship in eight years. There were a few high-fives in Atlanta's dugout when the Marlins won, and a couple of Braves fans did the tomahawk chop in the stands.

Manager Fredi Gonzalez high-fived a fan as he made his way to the dugout after a lineup change, and the celebration really picked up when Craig Kimbrel finished for his major league-best 49th save. The Braves poured out of the dugout and bullpen and jumped in a circle near the mound at the 99-year-old ballpark.

"What a great feeling," Gonzalez said. "It really is a great feeling to realize we've played 150-some games to get to this point. We knew early on that the Nationals had lost but we still wanted to be able to celebrate and come out with a win. And we did."

The Braves sprayed bubbly and doused each other with beer during the clubhouse portion of the party. Cigars were passed around, and the smoke quickly filled the small room. A couple of players took a quick break to check on their fantasy football teams, and then rejoined the celebration.

"We're a young team and we're still learning and we're doing our jobs still," Simmons said. "We're only going to get better. So we've got to keep everybody healthy and we'll be fine."

Simmons hit a solo drive in the fourth and a two-run shot in the eighth, giving him 17 homers on the year. It was more than enough run support for Julio Teheran (13-8), who struck out seven over six innings of one-run ball.

The Cubs had a chance to tie it when they put runners on second and third with two outs in the fifth, but Teheran managed to escape the jam despite a solid at-bat by Starlin Castro. Teheran needed 11 pitches to get Castro for a swinging strikeout, preserving Atlanta's 3-1 lead.

"I kind of feel like I got beat with two pitches," Jackson said, "moreso the slider 1-2 (to Simmons) than the fastball by Freeman."

Atlanta is headed to the playoffs for the second straight year and third time in four seasons. But it's the first division title for the Braves since 2005, when they won 90 games and then lost to Houston in the division series.

"We know last year what happened," Simmons said. "We played pretty good but not good enough and we had to deal with a one-game playoff thing. It's definitely a different feeling.

"Now we know we've got some time, we've got some games to work with. We've got a little bit of time to rest our players."

The only question now is home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs, with Atlanta, Los Angeles and St. Louis in the mix for the league's best record.

It's quite the accomplishment for Gonzalez and the Braves, who were beset by injuries for much of the year. Veteran catcher Brian McCann missed the first month following offseason shoulder surgery. The outfield of Jason Heyward and brothers Justin and B.J. Upton all missed time. Second baseman Dan Uggla had eye surgery and pitcher Tim Hudson broke his right ankle in July, shelving the right-hander for the rest of the season.