The Braves' First Quarter: And it all started so well ...

This season could not have gotten off to much better of a start than the way it did for the Braves, winning 12 of their first 13 games. Of course, since then? Well, 11-17 isn't quite as much to boast about. While Atlanta clings to first place, a mere game ahead of the Nationals, the 23-18 mark represents the lowest winning percentage of any of the current six division leader. Yes, that's right: Even lower than the woeful American League Central.

I could go on to lament that the Braves could slide out of the playoff picture entirely if caught by the Nats, but let us be honest: We're only 41 games into a very, very long season. Hell, the team slid to third place last year at the halfway point and still made the playoffs as a wild card. So it would rather premature to draw sweeping conclusions at this early point in the year.

As is always the case at this point of the season, we are reminded that there is still a lot of baseball yet to be played. And there is, more specifically, a lot more baseball to be played at the Ted, as Atlanta has played the least number of home games of any team in the league at this point. Furthermore, the club is in first place despite not having had their entire lineup play together in a single game yet this year. So, there's been some good (the explosive hitting of Justin Upton, the comeback story of Evan Gattis), some bad (the struggles of B.J. Upton, Jason Heyward and Dan Uggla), but ultimately, there is—as always—still a long way to go.