The good thing about the Braves’ Tuesday night debacle is that Comcast subscribers were able to pay about an extra $20 to get the premium package to witness it on Bally Sports.
Watching the Braves lose 10-0 at home to the Milwaukee Brewers and keeping the wheels turning for a corporate behemoth that squeaked out $8.9 billion in profits in the first half of the year – who wouldn’t sign up for that bundle?
A year after a historically productive year at the plate, the Braves continue to break new ground in the realm of offensive underperformance. On Sunday, they put an end to a streak of 231 consecutive regular-season home games without a shutout loss in a 7-0 defeat to the Miami Marlins at Truist Park. On Tuesday, fresh off an off-day, the Braves went ahead and stacked another right on top of it.
The back-to-back shutout defeats were the first since the Braves failed to score in both ends of a home doubleheader (both seven-inning games) against Arizona in April 2021. (The last time the Braves lost back-to-back nine-inning games by shutout was September 2014 against Philadelphia.)
But here’s the thing. If the Braves continue to follow the pattern of this perplexing season, they will regain their footing after this latest humiliation. It’s what they do.
In June, they lost five in a row against Washington and Baltimore, but then turned around and won eight of 10, including a road series win against the powerhouse Yankees.
Charged with momentum, they then lost a series to St. Louis and were shut out by the talent-bereft White Sox in a makeup game.
They scored a total of eight runs in losing a three-game series to the Giants and then started a critical home series with the Phillies by playing clumsily enough to get booed. It looked again like the wheels might fall off.
Nope.
Wheels safely attached, the Braves dominated the next two games to win the series and won four in a row overall as the offense returned. Maybe they’d finally found their stride.
You’d like to think so.
Not long after, they lost a season-high six games in a row, including the first two games against the Mets in New York. Remember Jarred Kelenic’s botched bunt try in the top of the 10th?
The Braves lost that game and then the next one to fall behind the Mets in the wild-card race. Clearly, the Braves were done, except they then won six of the next seven, at which point catching the Phillies for the NL East lead suddenly seemed possible.
And then that glimmer of sunshine was followed by the three consecutive losses through Tuesday – two to the dreadful Marlins and Tuesday night against the Brewers, who at least are not dreadful.
So who would be surprised if the Braves dusted themselves off, strung some wins together and got the fans’ hopes up again before slipping on another banana peel and getting locked in a supply closet?
Surely not anyone paying Comcast’s hiked-up rates.
The funny thing about this cycle, though, is that while the unpredictability – and the heavy doses of inferior play – are difficult for fans to stomach, it may not mean much as long as the Braves can just get into the postseason.
Precisely a year ago, the Arizona Diamondbacks were in the midst of a nine-game losing streak, part of a larger stretch in which they lost 25 of 32 games. A report from the time described the Diamondbacks as appearing to be “completely defeated” and “rudderless,” which is a funny way to characterize a team that went on to play in the World Series.
Two years ago, the Phillies collapsed in September, losing 10 of 13. They completed the regular season at 87-75. You may recall that Philadelphia rode that wave to an NLDS series win over the 101-win Braves and a World Series berth.
And you presumably know about the Braves’ 2021 underperformance before they went on to win the World Series. They trailed in the NL East by as many as eight games and didn’t get over .500 for good until Aug. 8.
Those teams would do fine comparing scars with these Braves.
Despite the fan agony, there’s no reason why the Braves can’t right themselves again (and backslide again) after having done so previously.
They are clearly capable of being better than this and the eventual returns of center fielder Michael Harris II (likely next week), pitcher Reynaldo López (a week and a half) and second baseman Ozzie Albies (September) will only increase that probability.
First baseman Matt Olson is showing signs of regaining his form. Pitcher Max Fried figures to be better than his first post-injury start Sunday. Shortstop Orlando Arcia extended his on-base streak to 18 games Tuesday.
And, however unsatisfying it might be to read at this point, the Braves’ unflappable clubhouse dynamic probably will help them steer through this latest skid.
Before Sunday’s game, pitcher Charlie Morton told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the team “has remained the most even-keeled out of any group that I’ve been a part of for as long as I have (played).” Given that he’s playing his 17th major-league season and has been with five different teams, his perspective has some value.
No fan wants to hear that everything is under control when it looks like it’s anything but, but it’s hard to argue with a formula that has helped produce six consecutive division titles.
Morton went on to say that, if he were dropped into the clubhouse in any of the past four seasons that he’s been with the Braves, 2021-24, he wouldn’t be able to discern what year it was based on the energy level and vibes of the clubhouse.
“You come in and you don’t realize how good or bad it is,” Morton said. “And I think that’s what will allow this team, and has allowed this team, to be successful.”
About 30% of the regular season still remains. The drama may only be beginning.
Comcast executives humbly request your viewership. Do you know how much it costs to fuel a yacht?
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