One of the things I do not like is when a team begins playing terribly and then midway through decides that they were actually good all along. Especially when said team had every opportunity to be good from the start. The Blue Jays and Cardinals did this all the time in the 2010s, and it would infuriate me to no end. Just pick a direction and stick with it. It's cool when an underdog does this, but when you're already on track for 100 wins and just lose 18 in April just to make it difficult, it's not cute.
That's why this whole Braves thing has been frustrating me. The Braves started the season by losing their first 7 games, and thanks to a scorching May are only now peaking their head above .500. They did this during a series against the Red Sox, an actual good team that's been actually good from the start, and has multiple good players outdoing expectations. Meanwhile, the Braves are still without like 4 or 5 great players and are getting very mediocre stuff from some of their biggest stars, and suddenly they're acting like they were doing this all along. If they were doing this with Acuna and Strider it'd be a different story, but they're doing this on the backs of people like Drake Baldwin, Nick Allen and Grant Holmes. This is verging on Astros levels of skeletal competition.
Like, look at Chris Sale. Chris Sale, after his unbelievable Cy Young season, battled worries that he'd blown his arm out again and would go back to his hurt self. That didn't happen. He did, however, have some very rough starts in April, and now he's gotten his ERA as low as 3.62. He's still a really tough pitcher, and he has 72 strikeouts through 10 starts, but the unstoppable quality of 2024 has lessened a bit. Now he's...a little closer to human, despite still being Chris Sale. And that's what a lot of these guys are, just a bit closer to human. Matt Olson has 9 homers but he's hitting .232. Spencer Schwellenbach had a killer start but has leveled his ERA to 3.31 with 3 losses. Raisel Iglesisas has 8 saves with a 5.89 ERA. Statistically, things are going well for this team, but it's happening in a way that doesn't require the team to actually be good. Like, the team's infrastructure and organization is so strong right now that something that would kill a worse team is only slightly inconveniencing the Braves.
And now you're hearing that Ronald Acuna's killing it in Gwinnett, and he might be back soon, in addition to Craig Kimbrel, who's progressing in the minors. Considering that the only above-replacement outfielder at the moment is Eli White, Acuna's return could not come at a better time. I don't know if it'll save the team though, or elevate them from a hanging-on club to a good one, but...anything to get the Braves out of this 'nominally good' stage they're currently in. If you're gonna compete, compete, don't do whatever the hell this is.
Coming Tonight: A guy who's never had a great start that couldn't be halted by something ridiculous and unfortunate.
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