Any other major league baseball team might understandably have given up months ago. Lose five of your eight All-Star selections from the year before due to season-ending injury or close to it this time around? When does our unofficial summer vacation begin?
Only the Atlanta Braves aren’t just any team or organization. Character matters. Playing every game like it’s your last matters. The clubhouse matters.
So when Monday night arrived in Minneapolis, and an 86-minute torrential storm caused everyone a lo-o-o-ng rain delay after just one inning of play, Atlanta starter Max Fried, still recovering from an arm injury, could have easily called it a night.