by Brady Penn

ATLANTA – For many Atlanta Braves fans, the month of May has been well below the standard, especially considering Philly’s torrid pace of 17-3 in the season’s second month. On the month as a whole, the Braves are 10-9. Specifically, the Braves have struggled with the NL West in May, with a record of 1-6 against the Padres and Dodgers.

On the pitching front, the Braves have continued to excel. In 19 games, the Braves pitching staff has allowed 2 runs or less in 9, with 5 shutouts. However, unlike the norm, the Braves offense has had a rough go.

After setting a slew of records in 2023, the Braves offense currently ranks 24th in WRC+, 22nd in Slugging, 25th in Average and 23rd in K% for the month of May. The lone bright spot has been Marcell Ozuna, with 6 homers, a .308 clip and 1.036 OPS. Despite the mid-tier performance, there are two reasons for optimism coming up.

For one, the month of May is coming to a close, and since 2022, the Bravos have a record of 44-10 in the month of June. If you remember, June was when the Braves took off on a 14-game win streak in 2022 while chasing the Mets. In 2023, the historic Braves offense caught fire in June.

On top of this, the schedule seems to lighten up in June. In May, the team played five series against current playoff teams. In June, only two such series are lined up, against the Orioles and Yankees.

All in all, a word of advice to Braves fans would be to remain calm. Yes, Philly is off to an insane start, which magnifies the shortcomings of the Braves. However, the team has won 4 of their last 5 series, as well as 9 of their last 15 games. With a 5-game lead on anyone else for the first Wild Card spot, the team is going to be fine, and better days seem to be ahead.