Bradley’s Buzz: The Braves are weird. All of baseball is weird (2024)

· On June 19, the Mariners led the AL West by 10 games. On July 20, they trailed Houston by a game. Since MLB split into divisions in 1969, no team had squandered a double-digit lead in such a short time.

· The Astros began the season 0-4, which became 7-19 and then 12-24. They first nosed above .500 on the last day of June. In their second game after the All-Star break, they assumed a division lead. They’ve since gone 5-8, putting Seattle back in front. The AL West leader holds the AL’s seventh-best record.

· The Dodgers have won 100-plus games over five of the past six full seasons. After adding Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto over the winter, they were hailed as one of the greatest teams ever assembled. They’re on pace to win 94 games. They’ve used 17 starting pitchers. By way of comparison, the pitching-ravaged Braves have used 13.

· New York, New York, Pt. 1: On June 14, the Yankees held baseball’s best record at 50-22. They lost 23 of their next 33. They’ve now won seven of eight. They’ve gone from leading the AL East by 3-1/2 games to trailing by three to being tied with Baltimore at the top.

· New York, New York, Pt. 2: On June 2, the Mets were 22-35 and holders of the National League’s third-worst record. They won 31 of their next 44. They’ve gone from 16-1/2 games out of first place to eight games back of NL East leader Philly and two behind the Braves for second.

· Local angle: After a six-game losing streak, their longest since 2017, the Braves won six of seven and had two weekend games left with Miami, their personal punching bag. Since the Marlins began play in 1993, they’ve lost to the Braves 315 times. Over that span, only one team (Orioles) had lost more games to a single opponent (Yankees). As of 7 p.m. Saturday, the Fish were 18-48 at Truist Park.

· Updated local angle: Having dumped nine players at the trade deadline, the Marlins somehow split a series here, outscoring the Braves 11-3 on Saturday and Sunday.

· The White Sox opened the season 3-22. On July 10, they won the first game of a doubleheader to become 27-67. They haven’t won since. Sunday’s loss made them the first MLB team since the 1988 Orioles to lose 20 consecutive games. The White Sox are on pace to finish 38-124. Biggest loser in baseball’s modern era? The 1962 Mets of Casey Stengel, Choo Choo Coleman and Marvelous Marv Throneberry dropped 120.

· We around here have reason to look fondly on the ‘88 O’s. The Braves of that vintage – then managed by Chuck Tanner, who didn’t make it until Memorial Day – began the season 0-10 and 3-16. That misery paled alongside what was happening with Baltimore, which started 0-21. The Braves finished 54-106 to the Orioles’ 54-107. Each had a rainout that wasn’t played, those Braves having two. A grateful world gave thanks.

· As of the All-Star break, the 2024 Braves were 8-1/2 games behind Philadelphia but five games up on San Diego, fourth among wild card hopefuls. They’ve since gone 7-9, enabling them to pull within six of Philly, which is 4-11. But – this is a big “but” – the Braves’ lead over the Mets, now fourth among wild card aspirants, is two games. Difference between No. 1 (Braves) and No. 6 (Pirates) in NL WC standings: four games.

· The point being: Baseball is always strange, but this season has gone nuts. The Dodgers were supposed to win 115 games. They won’t. The Phillies looked like they might win 110. They won’t. As we speak, FanGraphs assigns seven teams – Yankees, Orioles, Twins, Phillies, Braves, Dodgers, Padres – better odds to win the World Series than it does Cleveland, which has, we say again, baseball’s best record.

· On the bright side, the Guardians lead the White Sox by 41-1/2 games.