New calendar month, same Atlanta Braves squad
A little over six weeks into the 2016 season now, and this year’s edition of the Atlanta Braves are still looking historically terrible.
Following the news from head office that the Atlanta Braves had dismissed manager Fredi Gonzalez for no apparent reason other than his club being horrible in 2016, it begs the question; just how bad are these Atlanta Braves?
Preseason projections had them being a mediocre unit at best. But this year’s version of the Braves are shaping up to be one of the worst in franchise history, as well as one of the worst MLB teams of the 21st century.
Post deadball era, the 1935 Boston Braves went 38-115. In modern times, that has to be the mark for franchise futility. At the current pace 2016’s squad is winning games, they are looking at about 39 W’s and 123 losses come the end of the regular season. Other projections suggest they will improve some and win 59. They will be hard pressed to not be a 100 loss team, though.
Not since 2006 on this date in a previous season has a team had 10 or fewer wins. The Kansas City Royals were 10-27 on May 17 of that year. The last ball club to have fewer than 10 wins on this date were the Detroit Tigers in 2003, who managed to go 9-31 to open the season.
Miraculously, the Braves have stunk even more at home (2-17) than on the road (7-12) entering the third week of May. The losses have all come in bunches, too. Despite managing a season long win streak of four games in April, the Braves have not put together any back-to-back wins outside of that. Losing streaks have came in the form of nine games (to open the season), eight games, and five games.
From an individual players perspective, it’s not much prettier. Freddie Freeman is still the only Brave with more than one home run this season. Pitching wise, ace Julio Teheran has actually been pretty solid with a 3.17 ERA, 3.80 FIP and K/9 of 8.2. He’s winless at 0-4 this season because Atlanta has given him an average of only 2.13 runs per start. The pitcher who qualifies lower on that list is the Padres’ James Shields at 1.75.
Though their five wins in May are set to outpace their total of five in April, improvements are barely noticeable. They hit .229 in April and that has hasn’t changed, with a .229 average in the month of May as well. There has been a marked improvement in their pitching though, with a 3.61 ERA in May compared to 5.05 last month. Second year right-hander Matt Wisler has helped with that, as he’s posted a 1.93 ERA across three starts in May.
Aaron Blair‘s start from last night will hurt things though, as he was dummied for seven earned runs in the first inning of last night’s 12-9 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Next: Astros, Luhnow getting impatient with Carlos Gomez
For most Atlanta Braves fans, there are three things to look forward to in the near future. One is the continued development of the No. 6 prospect in baseball, shortstop Dansby Swanson. Second is June’s amateur draft and lastly, the opening of their brand new ballpark in 2017, SunTrust Park.