It’s 10 minutes before game time. Here’s what most teams are up to:



Gathering up the sunflower-seed stash. Applying those final dashes of stylish eyeblack. Making sure the bats are in the bat rack.



That’s most teams. Now here’s what those Atlanta Braves are up to:



Roll call!



All right, how do we explain Roll Call? GM Alex Anthopoulos calls it “the modern version of the Kangaroo Court.” Freddie Freeman says it’s just another symbol of the Braves’ “culture of fun.” A rival manager admires it as an example of “good peer pressure” that “drives players’ pride in what it means to win a ballgame.”



On the surface, it’s just a corny little team-lifting moment that even Freeman concedes “might seem ridiculous on the outside.” But in truth, it’s part of the fabric of all good baseball teams, to concoct whatever they can to bond, to motivate...