NEW YORK – Before this weekend, Matt Olson might have experienced consecutive rainouts during his big-league career.
But consecutive rainouts with both games canceled hours before first pitch?
“I’ve never seen that,” Olson said.
When the Braves departed Atlanta on Thursday evening, they expected a weekend full of fierce battles with the Mets, their National League East rivals. They envisioned days full of baseball, with hours spent at the ballpark.
Instead, they found themselves with two off days in a row – which only happens in July, for the All-Star break.
And this little hiatus couldn’t have come at a better time: The Braves are going into the final week of a stretch of 17 games in 17 days – that is, until the rain gave them two days off before Monday’s doubleheader.
“Shoot, last year and already a couple times this year, we’ve had some pretty long rain delays. I get it, it’s tough, but the hours of sitting in the clubhouse start to add up,” Olson said. “It was nice to just kind of get away. Had a little mini all-star break in April. I guess it comes at a decent time when this is 17 in a row. Not ideal to have games canceled, but guess if you could draw it up, it gets canceled early and you go enjoy your days.”
Olson had friends in town, so he went to meet up with them. He ate some New York pizza. On Sunday, he chilled in preparation for 18 innings on Monday.
Vaughn Grissom, in New York for the first time in his life, walked around the city a bit. “It was a little muggy out,” he said. It rained pretty much all of Saturday and Sunday. He tried to take advantage of some well-timed rest.
Kirby Yates also enjoyed the breather. He didn’t do much. He got some food and relaxed.
“Just slept, ate, slept, ate,” Yates said. “Definitely caught up on some sleep, which is good, but nah, didn’t do anything, really.”
The rainouts probably helped the Braves. Their next true off day wouldn’t have been until May 8. After Friday’s win over the Mets, the Braves still had nine games before that.
Until the rain helped them out.
Max Fried pitched all five innings in Friday’s rain-shortened game, so the bullpen entered Monday with three full days of rest. This hiatus should help the bullpen – which carried a heavy workload through the season’s first month – handle this week’s duties.
Everyone benefited from the rainouts.
“Two days in a row is kind of unheard of,” Grissom said, “but just trying to make the best of it and keep it rolling.”
The Braves couldn’t control the weather, but they’ll take it. In addition to Monday’s doubleheader, they have one more in August, when they return to Citi Field for the second and final time.
Over the weekend, they enjoyed the unexpected time off.
“It’s a long season,” Olson said. “It’s easy to kind of get in a rhythm, almost where you’re on autopilot a little bit, so to be able to kind of step away, it almost just refuels you a little bit as a normal off day would. Some guys got some time to hang out with each other, go walk around the city, just do whatever. It was a nice little refresher.”
Travis d’Arnaud ‘feeling better’
Travis d’Arnaud, who suffered a concussion last month, said he’s “feeling better.” His recovery has gone as smoothly as recovering from a concussion could go.
He said he’s “pretty close” to returning. The Braves haven’t given a timetable for his return because they’ve been cautious with the catcher, who has had a history of concussions in his career.
Luckily, d’Arnaud wasn’t worried about his overall long-term health after this one.
“It wasn’t a severe one,” he said. “I have some friends who’ve stepped away after concussions, but it wasn’t that bad.”
A new month
Monday marked the first day of May, which made it a good time to reflect on the opening month of the season.
The Braves entered May with an 18-9 record, which is Atlanta’s best record entering May since 2000, when that team had an 18-6 record in March and April.
The 2023 Braves entered Monday with an 11-2 road record to this point, their best road mark before May since the 1982 team was 8-0 away from home.
