Leading off the middle third of my countdown is the Atlanta Braves. The Braves are an odd franchise. They probably have the largest "local" area of the country, basically the entire southeastern US minus Florida is Braves country, but they don't really seem to be as popular or as well-known as in the 1990s. A lot of that has to do with winning, but losing franchises (ahem Rockies) still keep some fans. When I started this blog there were more Braves related card blogs than any other team, but they have been eclipsed long ago by the Dodgers and have since been passed by the Pirates as well.
They are also building a new stadium that will be opened in a couple of years despite the fact that their current stadium is only around 20 years old. This really bothers me because it could set a very dangerous precedent that could lead to a taxpayer revolt and to be honest I wouldn't blame them one bit. If taxpayers subsidize a stadium even partially, I would think that you should get at least 40 years out of it, perhaps even more. Not only that, but baseball is built on its history and to constantly change stadiums is just losing that history. Fathers won't even be able to tell their sons about their childhood in the same place because when they were a kid the team played on a different field. I didn't even realize this bothered me this much until I started writing about it. I am guessing the Braves might end up a bit lower on next year's countdown.
Anyway, the Braves were a little snake bitten this year. They lost young starters Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy for the year in Spring Training and had several other less significant injuries early on in the year. They did manage to overcome those injuries early in the year as bargain veterans Aaron Harang and Ervin Santana led their rotation quite well in April and May. However, age and even more injuries eventually caught up to the Braves and they finished the year under .500. It seems as though the Braves are working toward a massive rebuild to open their new stadium. Will it work? I guess we will just have to wait and see.
BRAVES
TEAM TRIVIA
Total # of Braves in 2014 - 39 (fewest in the league)
# of new Braves in 2014 - 14
Best score in 2014 - August 19 at Pirates 11-3
Worst score in 2014 - August 1 at Padres 10-1; September 25 vs. Pirates 10-1
Border color that worked best with this team - Blue
Border color that worked least with this team - Orange
Position on last year's list - #11 = SAME
Let's take a look at the first half of the 2014 Atlanta Braves with the
manager's card leading the way.
PURPLE
GREEN
BLUE
I'll be back tomorrow with Part 2. As usual, your thoughts are always welcome and encouraged.
Thanx for reading.
