Braves Biweekly: May-be they're just really good

"The Braves went 9-4 in the first half of May. They were 22-10 through April (.688) and 9-4 is a .692 winning percentage, so... that's remarkably consistent considering there's no reason to expect that 13 games will look like the past 32 games, but here we are. It's a great place to be. Only four teams have done better in May so far - the Brewers have one fewer loss, the Phillies and Cubs have one more win, and the Rays are 11-2. The Braves remain the only above .500 team in the NL East."

"For the month so far, the Braves are sixth in position player value, including sixth in hitting outputs, tenth in hitting inputs, and fourth in defensive value. The pitching continues to be "okay" and "defense-reliant" - 16th in fWAR and 19th in FIP-, but it's actually improved a fair bit, and is ninth in xFIP- with a mark of 90 in May. (They were 15th with a 98 xFIP- in April.)"

"Game-by-game, going by pregame odds, the Braves "should have" gone something like 7-6 (or maybe 6-7) in the month so far. Naturally, they did much better, against a tough part of the schedule. The win in the middle game of the Los Angeles series was probably their biggest upset so far (and might be something they can't replicate because there won't be another game stacked against them in the same way); on the flip side, losing a Chris Sale-Ben Brown-and-Cubs-bullpen matchup was one of their least-expected losses of the year (second, behind the loss to the Athletics early on)."

"Over this two-week-ish span, the Braves have added another 1.5ish wins to their projected end-of-season win total, which now sits at 94.5 per FanGraphs' playoff odds page. Their playoff odds continue to approach unity (but probably won't get there, rounding or not, for a while given that this is still baseball we're talking"

The Braves went 9-4 in the first half of May, matching their strong April performance and keeping a .692 winning percentage. Only four teams have done better in May so far, and the Braves remain the only above-.500 team in the NL East. Their nine-game division lead over the Nationals and Phillies is larger than the combined leads in the other five divisions. Position-player value ranks sixth, with hitting outputs sixth, hitting inputs tenth, and defensive value fourth. Pitching is defense-reliant, ranking 16th in fWAR and 19th in FIP-, but it has improved, ranking ninth in xFIP with a 90 mark in May. Preseason odds suggested a near .500 month, but results were better, including a notable upset win versus Los Angeles and an unexpectedly tough loss versus the Cubs. Projected end-of-season wins increased to 94.5, and playoff odds continue rising toward near certainty.

Read at Battery Power