By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The calendar turns over in just a couple of days, as December becomes January and one year becomes the next. This coming New Year’s Day also shifts the passage of time from one decade into another. The 2010s will become the 2020s and children born in the next few years will actually have memories of the decade in which they joined the world; something I, being born in 1988, can’t claim.

The next decade will define itself and be remembered for things we probably can’t even fathom, the way the 1920s is remembered for being the “Roaring Twenties” and the 1960s is remembered for counterculture.

But as the decade ends and we all look to the future, let’s take a moment to look back at the decade that was for the Atlanta Braves.

Looking back on it now, this decade seems clearly divided into 3 distinct periods: endings, rebuilding, and beginnings.

2010 launched with the announcement of Bobby Cox’s retirement after one last season. The stalwart skipper had coached the team for 21 years, (plus another four during the late 80s/early 70s) with 14 straight division championships, 5 National League pennants, and a World Series to his name.

He was legend and the team celebrated his legacy with one final playoff appearance; a Wild Card berth earned after a wild season full of scrappy play and incredible come backs (note: the 2010 squad still holds in my heart the spot of favorite ever team).

Two years later Chipper Jones announced he would be retiring after one final season. The 2012 campaign was another rousing one as the Braves snatched another Wild Card spot, playing in the first-ever Wild Card game, which ended Chipper’s playing career on a sour note with the infamous “Infield Fly” call.

These two retirements, the last two members of the legendary 90s teams, closed the book on an entire era for Atlanta.

The following season saw the Braves take an all or nothing approach, exciting the fan base with the acquisitions of the Upton brothers to go along with Jason Heyward, Dan Uggla, and eventual breakout star Evan Gattis. It was a lineup full of hitters who loved swinging for the fences. It paid off in 2013 with a NL East crown, but diminishing returns the next season jumpstarted the next major era for Atlanta in the 2010s: the rebuilding years.

The next few seasons were lean years, with the Braves finishing dead last in 2016 and seeing Brian Snitker ascend to the position of manager. First, as a mid-season replacement for outgoing skipper Fredi Gonzalez, then getting the full time job the next year.

Snit was followed shortly thereafter by many of the young prospects that Atlanta had been collecting during the rebuild, such as Dansby Swanson and Ozzie Albies.

Ironically, John Coppolella, the General Manager who had done much of the legwork in stocking the farm system, (Albies was a Frank Wren signing, mind you) would see none of his work bear fruit after baseball handed him a lifetime ban for cheating the international free agent system.

The setbacks wouldn’t stop the march of progress, as the next major era, beginnings started in Atlanta.

Along with Swanson and Albies came Mike Foltynewicz, Mike Soroka, and of course Ronald Acuna, Jr., who helped lead the Braves to consecutive division titles to close out the decade. Those stars give Atlanta a bright future on the horizon for the next ten years.

The start of the 2020s is shaping up to be the opposite of what the start of the 2010s was: the dawning of an era.

And, just because I inexplicably haven’t mentioned him yet, let’s not forget the constant and consistent contributions of the one player who has played for the Braves in every single year of this waning decade: Freddie Freeman.

Freeman has been through a lot with this team over the past ten years, and with the team that surrounds him now, it’s nearly time to cash in.