![\"\"](\"http:\/\/totfc.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/dylan_lee_fail.jpg\")
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After Dylan Lee gave up two straight homers almost immediately after the Braves had clawed and scratched their way to a 3-1 lead going into the 8th<\/sup> inning, I immediately saw the writing on the wall.\u00a0 As Braves fans, we\u2019ve all seen this script before, and from this point on, it was just clenching and hoping the brutal cycle of abuse that comes with being a Braves fan would come to an end, but not be willing to put any money on it that it would happen today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Two innings later, the Phillies win game 2, and we\u2019re headed to the winner-take-all game 3, later tonight.\u00a0 The only series out of the four wild card matchups to have to go the distance, as the White Sox, Yankees and Padres all took care of business and won two immediate games to advance to the divisional series.<\/span><\/p>\n Over the last 14 hours or so, I\u2019ve had a lot of thoughts swirling in my brain, that I knew I wanted to write something about it, but wasn\u2019t sure what angle to triangulate on and what tone to take when doing it.\u00a0 Do I try and tempt fate and write something scathing and completely doom-and-gloom about the Braves\u2019 chances tonight with hopes that I will be proven wrong, and that they\u2019ll hang a 12-2 clobbering just so I\u2019ll be made to look stupid but still be happy that they won?\u00a0 Do I preemptively write out the post I had formulating in my head about how Philadelphia sports seem to solely exist to ruin the hopes and dreams of Atlanta sports, based on just how many times Philadelphia teams have eliminated Atlanta teams in postseason play throughout history?\u00a0 Do I make an itemized list of Barves postseason failures over history?<\/span><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 But I wanted to write something, before game 3, because, well, I don\u2019t know why.\u00a0 It\u2019s like just my way of processing things, and maybe a combination of all of the above.\u00a0 Writing something about the Braves becoming the Barves in October on an annual basis just is something that I\u2019m compelled to do, and I hope for the best, but am prepared for the worst.<\/span><\/p>\n The fact that all three other matchups concluded means that for once, the Braves don\u2019t have to play at 2 pm, and get a prime-time game that starts at around 8 or so, so more eyes can watch as the Braves will probably choke and lose to the Phillies in the playoffs, so that they will be 0-4 against them historically, with three eliminations over the span of the last five years.<\/span><\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t matter how well the Braves have handled the Phillies in the regular seasons throughout all these seasons, the fact of the matter is that for whatever reason, they just can\u2019t seem to overcome them in the playoffs.\u00a0 2022 was particularly brutal, because the Braves had 101 wins and played most of the year as the de-facto best team in the league, but they took their foot off the gas going the playoffs, had a bye, and immediately got smoked by the 87-win Phillies.\u00a0 In fact, when the Braves drop to the Phillies tonight, they will have done so as the higher seed in three-straight eliminations, adding insult to injury, and at this point there\u2019s really nothing more that can be said about the agony of constantly falling short to a common tormentor.<\/span><\/p>\n Dylan Lee, is a guy I hope I do not see again tonight, and if by some miraculous act of god they win and advance, is a guy I hope I don\u2019t see again for the remainder of the playoffs, and frankly on this team ever again.\u00a0 It\u2019s nothing personal, but after his game 2 performance, that should be the nail in the coffin as far as his favor with any Braves fan should be.\u00a0 Every now and then, we see the eventual winner of the World Series do some wonky things with the bullpen, and usually there are some guys who lose favor and are sparsely seen, no matter what their role was in the regular season and the journey to get to the playoffs.\u00a0 Craig Kimbrel, in spite of his success as a closer was this guy for Boston in one notable year, and the Dodgers completely replaced all their back-end relief with Roki Sasaki just last year.\u00a0 Dylan Lee, I hope, is the guy that Braves fans never see again, regardless of any positive contributions he may have had in the past.<\/span><\/p>\n In all likelihood, the Phillies will be starting Zack Wheeler, their ace, on short rest, which just adds to the feeling of dread for Braves fans.\u00a0 The Braves used their two best in games 1 and 2, and got away with a split, and the Phillies, out of necessity couldn\u2019t use Wheeler until tonight, but as it stands, we have Wheeler versus whatever the Braves have left.\u00a0 Most likely Grant Holmes, who has been a fifth-starter type who has been inconsistent and does not inspire faith going into a deciding elimination game.<\/span><\/p>\n Needless to say, take everything all of the above, and I do not have a good feeling about tonight\u2019s outcome.\u00a0 I want to be wrong more than anything, and this is an instance where being right would bring no joy, other than to be able to sigh and say, welp, at least I was right.\u00a0 The Braves\u2019 offense is still anemic and has never been fixed at any point in the season, and has relied tremendously on the strength of their pitching, but you can\u2019t win games if you don\u2019t score runs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Wheeler will either be lights out, or succumb to the rigors of working on short rest, but knowing the Braves\u2019 bats, I\u2019d wager on the former, and I think the chances are way higher that we have same shit, different year, with the Braves going out in the first round, regardless of the fact that MLB added an even first-er round to the playoff field with the Wild Card \u2013 if the Braves make the playoffs, they\u2019re destined to get bounced in whatever round comes first to them, because I\u2019m not, and I can\u2019t have any more kids, so I can\u2019t produce any more babies to bless them with any more baby luck.<\/span><\/p>\n This shouldn\u2019t be eating at me this much, seeing as how lackadaisical of a baseball fan I\u2019ve been over the last decade or so, but I guess that\u2019s the nature of being a sports fan and a fan of a team.\u00a0 No matter how much you try to not let it affect you, it just does.<\/span><\/p>\n Prove me wrong, fate.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After Dylan Lee gave up two straight homers almost immediately after the Braves had clawed and scratched their way to a 3-1 lead going into the 8th inning, I immediately saw the writing on the wall.\u00a0 As Braves fans, we\u2019ve all seen this script before, and from this point on, it was just clenching and … Continue reading A pre-requiem for the 2026 Atlanta Barves<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[196,62,66,100,45,205,129,83,52,99,58,146],"class_list":["post-51552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brog","tag-barves","tag-baseball","tag-braves","tag-comparison","tag-fail","tag-mlb","tag-nostalgia","tag-observations","tag-owned","tag-reminiscing","tag-sports","tag-triggered"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51554,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51552\/revisions\/51554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}