Looking Up

If I were to conduct a poll of Braves fans the week before the season started about how they believed Atlanta’s first week and change would go, I’m willing to bet that most would have predicted the Braves would win more than half their games. An incredibly small faction of the fanbase would have in good faith predicted a 10-game stretch of 1-8 to begin the season (the tenth game was postponed due to inclement weather). I certainly would not have been among them.

Atlanta began the season with a seven game losing streak and the internet loved every minute of it. Such is life when you’re the bully on the block. There has so much to do about how there has never been a team in MLB history begin the season with seven straight losses and qualify for the postseason in the same year. I’m willing to bet there has never been a team as good as the Braves start a season with seven games, so I really don’t put much stock into that nugget. If this were a league with a shorter season, like the NFL, a seven game losing start would signal the end of your hopes for postseason play. But baseball is 162 games. Do you think the September Braves are going to still be feeling the effects of an April losing streak, 153 games later? I doubt it.