In the month of May, the Braves are 12-13, with a batting line of .230/.293/.379 and an ERA of 3.38; they are scoring 3.52 runs per game and allowing 3.72 runs per game.

There are, undoubtedly, many historical parallels – indeed, the 2021 team was so famously frustrating that we had more or less all lost patience with them by now. Despite having lost our (arguably) best pitcher at the beginning of the year, the team’s pitching has been generally superb. And our indifferent offense can scarcely be blamed on losing our best hitter, whose yearlong struggles were hardly more remarkable than the similar yearlong struggles of Matt Olson, Austin Riley, Orlando Arcia, Jarred Kelenic, and just about every man whose name does not rhyme with “So soon-ah.”

Tonight’s game? I didn’t watch it – there’s a local blackout here, anyway. Mackenzie Gore is a former top prospect with huge stuff and he’s been good all year; anyway, he authored the Braves’s thirteenth double-digit strikeout game of the month. Spencer Schwellenbach did about as well as could have been expected in his major league debut; the Nats have frequently been pesky against us despite the talent gap on paper, and his end line of three earned runs in five innings is no worse than I typically expect out of Bryce Elder, and far better than I expect out of Darius Vines.

Of course, the Braves offense went down against the Nationals’ bullpen as meekly as churchmice, while the Nationals pushed across insurance runs against Boom-Boom Bummer. Alex Anthopoulos really needs to trade him for Mike Trout.

This too shall pass. If all of us would just go read War and Peace, by the time we all finished it, the team would probably be good again. Who’s with me?