Call it a jinx. Call it overconfidence. Call it not waiting for the fat lady to sing. But whatever you want to call it, it’s ultimately bullshit, because the Braves are on the cusp of fucking one more thing up, and that’s not finishing the season with 100 losses, and ultimately the worst record in baseball.
From the very day I wrote my swan song for a guaranteed 100 losses, where the Braves were playing .133 baseball, they have suddenly gone 7-3 in their last ten games*, have reached the 62-win plateau, and literally with one more win, avoid the humiliation of a 100-loss season. Go figure that such a sudden hot streak would coincide perfectly with my declaration that the team was done and that 100 losses was all but inevitable.
*including a sweep against the Phillies whom at the time were playing vastly better baseball than Atlanta, but if there’s one thing any sports fan should ever remind themselves frequently is that you can’t rely on a team from Philadelphia to ever get the job done
Seriously though, Freddie Freeman driving home five runs off the bench? That doesn’t happen in general, not just with the Braves. A guy coming off the bench is typically a one-and-done pinch-hit appearance, but nope, Fredi Gonzalez decides to leave him in the game after pinch-hitting two runs in, and naturally he clocks a three-run home run in the god damn ninth-inning to secure a Braves win, the 62nd of the season. One more win means that the Braves cannot possibly lose 100 games, and put the cherry on top of my season of baseball disappointments.
There are nine games left in the season; three with the Marlins, three with the Nationals and three with the Cardinals. A win in any single one of those games means that I end the season sad and disappointed, and it doesn’t seem very likely that even the woeful Braves, are going to finish out the season 0-9.
The Marlins are dangerous, because they’re mathematically out of the playoff equation as well, and have absolutely nothing to play for. The Nationals are still grasping at straws with hopes of catching the Mets, so they will likely be playing hard, but they’re also the biggest disappointment team of 2015, so they could very well fuck up at least one game, if the Braves haven’t already blown it against the Marlins. The Cardinals, barring a massive collapse by either the Pirates or Cubs, will likely be playing hard and with serious rosters, because they’re being pursued fiercely, even to this stage of the season. But the race for 100-losses could very well already be over by the time that series even starts.
The bottom line is that the Braves have been bad all season long, but only at one point did they lose nine consecutive games, when they lost 12 in a row. Given those kind of statistical probabilities, if I’m a betting man, I’d say that it’s a fairly safe bet to assume that the Braves will win at least one game in their final nine, and avoid 100 losses, much to my chagrin. But I was pretty wrong just ten days ago, however I don’t think I’m going to cling to hope on this one, as much as I want it to be true.
Knowing my luck, the Braves will lose their next eight games, give me all the hope in the world, I’ll go to the season-ender against the Cardinals, where the Cardinals will blow a massive lead, and the Braves will win their 63rd game when like Freddie Freeman hits a walk-off home run or something.
The Atlanta Braves just can’t do anything right.
