The Atlanta Braves lost a series to the Chicago Cubs following the 2017 All-Star game, changing their season for good.
The Atlanta Braves win! The Braves win!
The Atlanta Braves following the 2017 All-Star Game sat below .500 and had the NL Wild Card-leading Arizona Diamondbacks coming to pay them a visit to SunTrust Park. The environment inside of SunTrust Park was electrifying as the Braves played in what felt like a prelude to a postseason appearance inside of the new stadium.
After all of the losing, and all of the misery, the Braves finally had the chance to break through that glass ceiling.
Guess what? They did just that.
The Braves not only found a way to take the series against the Diamondbacks but did so in fashion. The team that went from National League royalty to the laughing joke at the winter meetings was a .500 baseball team.
With the entire city of Atlanta rejuvenated by the sudden appearance of a playoff contender, the defending world champion Chicago Cubs came to town. The one team in the whole league the Braves had to schedule following this epic climax of climbing back to .500 was the reigning, defending, top dog of professional baseball.
So what did the Cubs do? They squandered all hopes of the Braves making any noise on the road to October.
The Atlanta Braves miserably fell apart, and now we’re not talking they lost the series due to the bullpen or even blew the game. The Braves found a way to let the Cubs come in and show the entire organization what happens when a rebuild is finally complete.
But hey, we’re almost there! And better yet, the Braves return the whole gang for the 2018 season.
Are the Chicago Cubs to blame for the Braves head scratching disaster of a second half? Not sure. Many will point to another event that ultimately ended the season, but either way, we can all agree something changed in the second half of the season.
Next: Projecting a near perfect 2018 campaign for the Braves
In 2017, the Atlanta Braves found a way to get to the Washington Nationals in a fashion that hadn’t been done since the National League Pennant winning New York Mets. With the 2018 season around the corner, the Braves will look not only compete but do so in fashion.