One year ago, the rebuilding Braves came out of the All-Star break with a three-game sweep of Arizona to raise their record to a stunning 45-45. Then the baseball gods looked down and said, “Hah! We were just messing around,” and the team spiraled to a 27-45 finish. MLB then sledgehammered the front office for cheating, John Coppolella was fired, John Hart slunk away to a cushy broadcast job (golf tan intact) and Atlanta sports fans wondered, “Wasn’t 28-3 bad enough?”



So here we are again. One series into the second half of the baseball season, the Braves are an even more surprising 53-43 and a game out of first place in the National League East. It seems a little more real this time. But the man orchestrating this, Brian Snitker, still faces an uncertain future, managing on the option year of a seemingly we-really-don’t-want-to-give-you-the-managing-job contract that was tendered from the previous front office.



Question: Have we...