Atlanta Braves: What to expect from May schedule?

The first full month of the 2019 baseball season is in the books and it was filled with a lot of drama, some good and some bad. So what can we expect from the Atlanta Braves in May?

April is over and May is here. Opening Day seems like it could’ve been a couple of days ago, but at the same time, it felt like a really long month for the Atlanta Braves.

From some of the exciting wins or even key moments in wins like the recent Josh Donaldson three-run homer or that line drive from Dansby Swanson earlier this month to walk off against the Miami Marlins (9-21).

There were games the Braves shouldn’t have lost but then there were games where they shouldn’t have won.

Things could change in May, but for April (and March), the Braves have been pretty lucky that the division has looked like the 2018 version as no one has really played great baseball, which allows the Atlanta Braves to currently be only two games back in the standings.

May looks to be a tough test for the club but they started the month off on a positive note after winning Wednesday’s game 5-1 against the San Diego Padres (17-14). However, they will also be facing the LA Dodgers( 20-13), Arizona Diamondbacks (18-13), Milwaukee Brewers (17-14) and the St. Louis Cardinals (20-10) twice.

So with that, here are some of the things we can expect this month for the club.

A Few Late Games

The Braves will be scheduled to play a total of 29 games for the month of May and nine of those games will be over on the West Coast.

They will have three games against the Dodgers, four against the Diamondbacks (but one at 4:10 p.m. ET), and then three with the San Francisco Giants (13-18).

There will also be one game against the Cardinals set for 8:15 p.m., which is later than our typical game time.

This usually comes as a pain for those of us on the East Coast as well as the team, who will be flying coast-to-coast, going down to Miami and then to LA.

Seasons prior, the Braves usually were fortunate enough to have their “California games” kind of back-to-back.

For example, they would play the Dodgers and then head up to play the Giants so it wouldn’t take much traveling, but it won’t be so easy this season.

A Better Bullpen…Maybe?

At the writing of the article, the Braves bullpen was sitting at a 4.50 ERA and ranked 17th overall in MLB bullpen ERAs. When I finished they were 19th with a 4.15 ERA…so they’re getting better.

With some of the new reinforcements to the bullpen (still need more) such as Jerry Blevins and Jacob Webb mostly doing well, the bullpen may be able to hold up some much (We’ll let that inning from Webb Wednesday night go by since the Padres couldn’t capitalize on it).

Hopefully Luke Jackson and Dan Winkler maintain what they’re doing now, and the others can figure themselves out — especially AJ Minter and Jesse Biddle.

For more on the bullpen, Jake took a deeper look at what we can expect from a revamped ‘pen and if more changes could be coming.

Offense Heating Up

As the pitching is getting more consistency, so is the overall offense up and down the lineup. Ozzie Albies and Josh Donaldson have started to add some pop to their at-bats, combining for a total of 11 home runs now — including four from Albies in the last 10 games.

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Freddie Freeman, Ronald Acuña Jr., Nick Markakis, and Dansby Swanson have continued to remain hot or at least consistent.

Tyler Flowers, Brian McCann, Ender Inciarte, and Johan Camargo also have each contributed when they are in the lineup.

Atlanta’s offense is a top 10 from multiple sources: #9 on ESPN, #3 on Covers betting site, and #3 on Fox Sports, and then 6th in the NL with .267 batting average.

They’ve always been high in the doubles department especially with Markakis and now with a full season from Acuña and Donaldson, the home run department has risen as well and should continue to as the season goes on.

One issue with the offense last month was capitalizing with runners in scoring position. However, like some of the other “concerns,” they’ve been getting better at it.

This will be put to test as well as they face some tough pitchers this month. Some names include Adam Wainwright, Zack Greinke, Luke Weaver, as well as recent NLDS foes, Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu.

So May will be a big obstacle for the Atlanta Braves to get through, but so far they’ve been going the right direction.

The last few seasons the Braves have sadly earned a reputation as an underdog, weak and essentially laughable team, but this season has become more of a threatening squad.

Lately, I’ve heard from a few commentators from other teams acknowledge that the Braves have a good lineup.

Are you ready to see what the Braves can do this month? Here’s to hoping they’re able to continue their success and not end up being overwhelmed with the strong opponents coming their way.