I’ve been a Braves fan long enough to know the difference between a bad year and a broken organization. What I’m still working out is which one this is.

The 2021 Braves were 44-45 at the All-Star break and I had already mentally moved on. That was a mistake I’ve been making my whole life, and apparently baseball had to be the thing to finally break the habit.

I stopped hoping for a clean ninth inning somewhere around 2023. What replaced it was something more useful than hope.