<img alt="Atlanta Braves v San Diego Padres" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5PQlTx1bC-FI9mS4aO845PGnCbM=/0x0:6596x4397/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73992958/2207590280.0.jpg">
Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images
Saturday night’s 1-0 loss was another example of just how strange and unusual things tend to get when the Braves are in California and also when Aaron Bummer is on the mound. Last night, the Atlanta Braves fell to 0-3 to start the season after dropping another close and incredibly frustrating game in Petco Park against the San Diego Padres. By this point in my time as a Braves fan during this current era, I’ve honestly come to expect goofy nonsense to occur whenever the Braves play out West — particularly in California. For some reason or another, this team has some of the wildest stuff happen to them in games that are being played in either the Pacific Time Zone or Mountain Time Zone.
I could base this entire article on Atlanta’s West Coast woes. Just last season, arguably their worst loss of 2024 took place in Colorado where they suffered an incredibly shocking collapse (even for the 2024 Braves) in the eighth inning of what looked to be a sure win. Even in their eventual 2021 NLCS triumph over the Dodgers, it involved Cody Bellinger hitting what is still one of the most ridiculous home runs I have ever seen on a pitch from Luke Jackson that was nearly at his eyes. Even going back to the team’s most rebuilding era, that ragtag bunch saved their worst for the West Coast as they delivered one of the single-worst innings of defense that you will ever see this club produce. If you don’t believe me, then listen to Brian Snitker talk about it:
For some reason or another, both bad and bizarre stuff tends to happen frequently to the Braves whenever they go out West. For what it’s worth, it’s not always bad. They do have some moments of triumph (Eddie Rosario’s go-ahead grand slam against Arizona comes to mind) over this same span and in my opinion, it makes those moments all the more sweeter whenever they have to deal with their usual horrible luck during those trips to the Left Coast.
However, there is one player for the Braves who not only has to deal with the horrible run of luck that the Braves have as a team whenever they go out West but has to just deal with it in on seemingly an outing-to-outing basis and that’s Aaron Bummer. For the majority of his career, Bummer has had to deal with having some of the worst luck of any pitcher in baseball and this is an issue that predates his time with the Braves as well.
There was a huge debate in White Sox circles over just how much of his disappointing performances that you could chalk up to either bad luck or underperformance. Some people were convinced that Bummer just needed to step his game up. Some wanted rid of him at the first chance they got. Others were completely mortified by what they found once they took a deep dive into his results. Either way, there were two clear camps among White Sox fans when it came to Bummer: The ones who thought he stunk and the ones who thought that there was a good pitcher underneath all of the black cats running around and pianos falling from high-rise buildings.
That same debate has followed Aaron Bummer to Atlanta and it’s mostly because, well, the most of the same stuff is going on here when compared to what was happening to him as a member of the White Sox. If you look at what Bummer does on paper, he’s a totally fine reliever! However, when you see what’s going on with his performances, it’s clear that something is going on here where for some reason or another, whenever opposing hitters put the bat to the ball against him, weird stuff tends to happen that usually results in Bummer having a bad time and us fans hating life at that particular moment.
So with Bummer’s bad luck in mind and Atlanta’s bad luck as a club whenever they go out West, the two factors combined their powers to form, well, whatever on Earth this goofy moment was.
I can say with all honesty that that is the stupidest thing I have ever seen happen during a baseball game — including all other teams. I’ve seen the St. Louis Cardinals have a foul ball magically roll into fair territory. I’ve seen a Jackson State team essentially have their entire season come crashing down because a bullpen door was unlocked. I cannot say that I’ve seen a ricochet off of a pitcher turn into a ground rule double because the ball ended up going into the dugout off of a ricochet on a soft grounder. It’s even wilder when you consider that Cronenworth ended up coming around to score and that ended up being the difference in the game. That. THAT.
While the xBA on the Cronenworth’s batted ball did end up being .550 which is to say that it wasn’t just a complete act of God that sent that ball into the dugout off of Bummer’s foot, I mean, come on. There was only one pitcher on the planet who was going to see this happen to himself and he currently wears No. 49 and plays for the Atlanta Braves. That’s the only real analysis that you can make of this situation — an unlucky guy got unlucky once again.
While the Braves as a whole probably still didn’t deserve to win that game (and really, there’s not many ways to excuse getting shut out over six innings by Randy Vásquez, with all due respect), it’s still the type of thing that we’ve come to expect from both the Atlanta Braves on their journeys out West and from Aaron Bummer in general. That’s not to absolve Aaron Bummer either, as he was part of the reason why they dropped the first game as he certainly didn’t help his cause with a wild pitch during an underwhelming outing. So while there’s certainly plenty of bad luck going on, there’s still a sense that the Braves and Bummer can do much better than what they’re doing right now.
The good news is that this is only the first series of the year and for all we know, the Braves might leave San Diego tonight on a high note after picking up a big win on Sunday Night Baseball. This also could be a turning point for Aaron Bummer where his luck turns around because, well, I don’t want to imagine seeing something even unluckier happen to this man going forward. Either way, there’s still all of the time in the world for both the Braves and Bummer to get things going in the right direction and maybe they just need some bounces to start going their way. We’ll see what happens.
<img alt="Atlanta Braves v San Diego Padres" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5PQlTx1bC-FI9mS4aO845PGnCbM=/0x0:6596x4397/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73992958/2207590280.0.jpg">
Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images
Saturday night’s 1-0 loss was another example of just how strange and unusual things tend to get when the Braves are in California and also when Aaron Bummer is on the mound. Last night, the Atlanta Braves fell to 0-3 to start the season after dropping another close and incredibly frustrating game in Petco Park against the San Diego Padres. By this point in my time as a Braves fan during this current era, I’ve honestly come to expect goofy nonsense to occur whenever the Braves play out West — particularly in California. For some reason or another, this team has some of the wildest stuff happen to them in games that are being played in either the Pacific Time Zone or Mountain Time Zone.
I could base this entire article on Atlanta’s West Coast woes. Just last season, arguably their worst loss of 2024 took place in Colorado where they suffered an incredibly shocking collapse (even for the 2024 Braves) in the eighth inning of what looked to be a sure win. Even in their eventual 2021 NLCS triumph over the Dodgers, it involved Cody Bellinger hitting what is still one of the most ridiculous home runs I have ever seen on a pitch from Luke Jackson that was nearly at his eyes. Even going back to the team’s most rebuilding era, that ragtag bunch saved their worst for the West Coast as they delivered one of the single-worst innings of defense that you will ever see this club produce. If you don’t believe me, then listen to Brian Snitker talk about it:
For some reason or another, both bad and bizarre stuff tends to happen frequently to the Braves whenever they go out West. For what it’s worth, it’s not always bad. They do have some moments of triumph (Eddie Rosario’s go-ahead grand slam against Arizona comes to mind) over this same span and in my opinion, it makes those moments all the more sweeter whenever they have to deal with their usual horrible luck during those trips to the Left Coast.
However, there is one player for the Braves who not only has to deal with the horrible run of luck that the Braves have as a team whenever they go out West but has to just deal with it in on seemingly an outing-to-outing basis and that’s Aaron Bummer. For the majority of his career, Bummer has had to deal with having some of the worst luck of any pitcher in baseball and this is an issue that predates his time with the Braves as well.
There was a huge debate in White Sox circles over just how much of his disappointing performances that you could chalk up to either bad luck or underperformance. Some people were convinced that Bummer just needed to step his game up. Some wanted rid of him at the first chance they got. Others were completely mortified by what they found once they took a deep dive into his results. Either way, there were two clear camps among White Sox fans when it came to Bummer: The ones who thought he stunk and the ones who thought that there was a good pitcher underneath all of the black cats running around and pianos falling from high-rise buildings.
That same debate has followed Aaron Bummer to Atlanta and it’s mostly because, well, the most of the same stuff is going on here when compared to what was happening to him as a member of the White Sox. If you look at what Bummer does on paper, he’s a totally fine reliever! However, when you see what’s going on with his performances, it’s clear that something is going on here where for some reason or another, whenever opposing hitters put the bat to the ball against him, weird stuff tends to happen that usually results in Bummer having a bad time and us fans hating life at that particular moment.
So with Bummer’s bad luck in mind and Atlanta’s bad luck as a club whenever they go out West, the two factors combined their powers to form, well, whatever on Earth this goofy moment was.
I can say with all honesty that that is the stupidest thing I have ever seen happen during a baseball game — including all other teams. I’ve seen the St. Louis Cardinals have a foul ball magically roll into fair territory. I’ve seen a Jackson State team essentially have their entire season come crashing down because a bullpen door was unlocked. I cannot say that I’ve seen a ricochet off of a pitcher turn into a ground rule double because the ball ended up going into the dugout off of a ricochet on a soft grounder. It’s even wilder when you consider that Cronenworth ended up coming around to score and that ended up being the difference in the game. That. THAT.
While the xBA on the Cronenworth’s batted ball did end up being .550 which is to say that it wasn’t just a complete act of God that sent that ball into the dugout off of Bummer’s foot, I mean, come on. There was only one pitcher on the planet who was going to see this happen to himself and he currently wears No. 49 and plays for the Atlanta Braves. That’s the only real analysis that you can make of this situation — an unlucky guy got unlucky once again.
While the Braves as a whole probably still didn’t deserve to win that game (and really, there’s not many ways to excuse getting shut out over six innings by Randy Vásquez, with all due respect), it’s still the type of thing that we’ve come to expect from both the Atlanta Braves on their journeys out West and from Aaron Bummer in general. That’s not to absolve Aaron Bummer either, as he was part of the reason why they dropped the first game as he certainly didn’t help his cause with a wild pitch during an underwhelming outing. So while there’s certainly plenty of bad luck going on, there’s still a sense that the Braves and Bummer can do much better than what they’re doing right now.
The good news is that this is only the first series of the year and for all we know, the Braves might leave San Diego tonight on a high note after picking up a big win on Sunday Night Baseball. This also could be a turning point for Aaron Bummer where his luck turns around because, well, I don’t want to imagine seeing something even unluckier happen to this man going forward. Either way, there’s still all of the time in the world for both the Braves and Bummer to get things going in the right direction and maybe they just need some bounces to start going their way. We’ll see what happens.
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