Braves balance early season losing streak with a 9-game winning streak

Twenty games ago, the Braves were 16-18 and 4.5 games out of first place in the NL East. Four games later they were 6.5 games out of the division lead and had a 17% chance of making the playoffs. But, a 16 game stretch in which the team has gone 14-2 has put the Braves on top of the NL East by 3.5 games and half a game behind the Padres for the best record in the NL. Now they have a 58% chance of making the playoffs. How did they do it?

Troy Glaus was named player of the month for May. Jason Heyward won his second straight Rookie of the Month award. The team batted .279 in May compared to a .227 average in April. The team ERA was 4.24 in April, then 3.51 in May.

The schedule for the rest of the season is just about the middle of the pack with a .503 winning percentage. The Braves have 52 games remaining against division foes and series against AL-leading Tampa Bay, NL-leading San Diego and the always competitive Dodgers. It's been a roller-coaster ride so far, but it has been enjoyable. Hopefully, the rest of the season will be just as fun!

Why can't Brownsburg win a baseball sectional?

Once again, just like the previous four years, the Brownsburg baseball team was the clear front-runner in the sectional and could not get the job done. They lost to Pike 12-10 in the semi-finals of the sectional yesterday afternoon. BBurg used 5 pitchers in the slugfest. Also, they had trouble protecting a lead, something that they have had a problem with most of the year. BBurg scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 4th to take a 8-3 lead, only to give up 6 runs in the top of the 5th to fall behind 9-8. I don't know what the deal is with this team but they had 23 wins this year in a sectional where no other team had more than 16 wins. They had 24 wins last year and lost to Decatur Central in the sectional. Is the team built for the regular season and not prepared for the one-and-done format of the tournament? Is there an issue with coaching strategy or player motivation? I don't know what it is, but it is frustrating to follow a team all year and have high hopes for a strong tourney run just to get smacked in the face during the sectional round.

Seniors Joel Stucker, Ben Blystone, Justin Hartnagel, Alex McGowan, and Dalton Wentz had a great three-year run that would only be surpassed by the 2002-2005 group that went to three state championship games. Their record was 69-18 over the 2008-2010 seasons. Congratulations on your success and good luck at school next year.

Final NCAA baseball seeding projections

There wasn't much movement among the top teams in my seeding projections, but the bottom half jumbled a little. The host sites are announced today and the selection show is tomorrow.

1. Arizona State
2. Virginia
3. Coastal Carolina
4. Texas
5. Florida
6. Louisville
7. UCLA
8. Georgia Tech
9. Miami
10. Arkansas
11. Cal-State Fullerton
12. TCU
13. Florida State
14. South Carolina
15. Vanderbilt
16. Auburn