By: Mike Anthony

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

For any Braves fans out there, who haven’t been kicking around the Earth for the same 32 years that I have, this season has to be a strange and exciting one.

You grew up rooting for a juggernaut of a team that was a threat to win it all throughout the 90’s. There were also some truly bad stretches of play where Braves hats were traded out for the fan’s college football team of choice by the Fourth of July. And there were a few years mixed in where Atlanta was expected to be thoroughly average and did just that.

But this is something new. Many preseason predictions had the Braves as a young team still squarely in the middle of a rebuild. While they weren’t expected to lose 100 games, they were overwhelmingly picked to finish third or worse in the National League East.

I’ve encountered plenty of Braves fans who aren’t sure what to think. Sure, they’re excited, but it’s hard to look at some teams like the Yankees, Red Sox and Astros with a lineup full of superstars and not wonder if the other shoe is set to drop.

Braves fans in the 25-35 age group spent the first half of their lives knowing that the regular season was a formality leading up to another division championship. Following that long run, there were a few lean years that everyone saw coming.

A bounce back from that saw an improved lineup from 2010-13 that was expected to contend and did, making a wild card game and two division series while winning another division title.

Then came another swoon that was expected to only be showing the first signs of a turnaround in 2018. Instead, the Braves are on pace for 90 wins.

Only time will tell in that matter, but I’m here to tell you to enjoy it, because these surprise seasons are the best of all.

If you’re around my age and a Braves fan, the only comparable season to 2018 that you might remember is 1991.

It’s my reference point as one of my first concrete memories of watching a game was seeing Kirby Puckett hit his Game 6 home run. Sorry for the cheap shot, but that really is the first baseball memory I can put into context.

I’m sure that the summer of ‘91 was spent with a lot of Braves fans not quite sure if they should allow themselves to get wrapped up in a run that always feels like it could stop at any moment.

Don’t do that. Lean in. It will be a summer to remember. And if not. Well, there’s always next year.