Not to be a bore, it’s that time again to share my love of baseball. And without a doubt, I do love it for my team, the Atlanta Braves, has got off to a not-so-banner start, going 0-7 their first seven games with four of those games being against their arch rival in the National League East, the Washington Nationals. But I’ve not missed watching any of those games; that’s true love. And it’s not something that I’m not used to dealing with.

From the time the Braves came to Atlanta in 1966, they had many terrible seasons, sometimes being considered the laughing stock of baseball. Other than the division winning seasons of 1969 and 1982, from ’66 through ’90 they had mostly losing seasons, averaging only 65 wins per season between 1985 and 1990. Their lowest point came in 1988, when they lost 106 games out of 162 played! But then came the beginning of a historic run when in 1991 they became one of the first teams to go from worst to first, winning their division and then the playoffs to make it to the World Series.

At mid-season, the Braves were hovering around .500 and 9 1/2 games behind the first place Dodgers, only to get hot and make a come back, winning the division on the next-to-the last day of the season. And, ironically, the team they played in the series had just done the same thing, went from worst to first in the American League, making it a very special meeting between two historic teams. And even though my Braves lost, it was as exciting a series I’ve ever seen, with four games ending on the last pitch and three games going into extra innings, including the winner-take-all Game 7. Truly a World Series for the ages. And that season was the first of 14 division championships in a row, something never done by any spots franchise in history.

And though my Bravos have started on such a low point for this season, there is always hope; that’s why you play every game. Case in point: the Braves also own another miracle season, 1914, when they were the Boston Braves. After a dismal 4–18 start, the Braves seemed to be headed for a last place finish. On July 4, 1914, the Braves lost both games of a doubleheader to the Brooklyn Dodgers. The consecutive losses put their record at 26–40 and the Braves were in last place, 15 games behind the league-leading New York Giants who had won the previous three league pennants. But then the Braves got hot, going on a streak, winning 41 and losing only 12 games. They then played the Giants in a three-game series, wining two, taking over first place. From that point on, the Braves went 25-6 while the Giants record was 16-16, finishing 10 1/2 games behind the Braves. They then played the defending world champion Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series, winning the series 4-0 becoming the first team to sweep an opponent in a World Series.

So, regardless of my team’s start to the season, as the great Yankee player Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over,” one of the many pithy and paradoxical quotes he’s so-well known for. And just as the ’91 Braves as well as the 1914 Braves did, no matter how far behind a team is, there’s always that chance, and hope, that all can turn out well and just like a Phoenix rising , a team can rise up pull a terrible season out of the ashes of failure, turning a season into a historic success. Let’s go Braves!