It’s a home opener for the Braves, and not just any opener

Braves fan Yandro Diaz snaps a selfie with the opening series logo during the Braves home opener in their new stadium at SunTrust Park on Friday, April 14, 2017, in Atlanta.

Braves fan Yandro Diaz snaps a selfie with the opening series logo during the Braves home opener in their new stadium at SunTrust Park on Friday, April 14, 2017, in Atlanta.

Here we are for the Braves’ first home game of the season, and not just any home opener: This opener is in a new ballpark in a different county for a team that lived downtown … well, since moving here from Milwaukee, which was 51 years ago. The thread that runs between the Atlanta Braves remains I-75, one of our interstates that’s still intact, but that’s about it.

The Braves are now suburbanites. You knew that already. You’ve known it was coming for 3 1/2 years, and here it is.

I know some of you were so incensed by the Braves’ move that you’ve sworn never to attend another game. I understand that. But I note again: These same Braves played elsewhere before they alit in Atlanta. (Two elsewheres, actually — they began in Boston.)

Sometimes teams up and leave and make people mad. The NFL has seen three franchises — nearly 10 percent of the Tiffany League — execute/plot moves in the past 15 months. The Braves did not leave downtown for another downtown. According to Dr. Google, they moved 14 1/2 miles up I-75.

Maybe you hated that. Maybe you hate it still. I would suggest, though, that you shouldn’t continue to hate just for the sake of stubborn continuity. Times change. This is where the Braves live now. This is reality.