The 89th Major League All-Star Star game is 28 days away, scheduled for July 17 at Nationals Park in Washington.
Unless the Atlanta Braves have a meltdown of epic proportions between now and then, they easily could have three or more starters on the National League's team, which would, at least for the moment, be altogether fitting for a Braves bunch that woke up Monday morning tied with the Milwaukee Brewers for the NL's best record at 42-29.
That's right. Not even the surging Chicago Cubs - though suddenly playing like a team with the majors' third highest payroll ($183 million) - were as good as the Braves or the Brewers at Monday's dawn, the Cubbies arriving for Monday night's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 40-28 mark.
And to think that Las Vegas predicted in late March that Atlanta's record would be no better than 75-87 this season. That still could happen, of course. But it would require the Bravos going 33-58 from this point forward, which seems at least as unlikely as anyone predicting in March that they would stand atop the NL East today.
Then again, Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman - who currently leads all NL All-Star vote getters with more than 1.4 million votes - did tell anyone willing to listen back then: "It feels a lot different (this spring). You want to see that light at the end of the tunnel, and you can almost touch it now with your hands. We're so close."
Adding to that mindset, Atlanta - which is on the road tonight in Toronto - already has played three more road games than home contests. There's still a whole lot of baseball to be played, but these guys are looking more and more like a team headed to the playoffs.
And if they do, the current All-Star voting numbers are a good indicator why. Because not only does Freeman lead all NL vote getters, teammate Nick Markakis is second with nearly 1.2 million votes. Then there's Ozzie Albies, whose 915,736 votes as of Monday afternoon were nearly 150,000 more than any other NL second baseman.
Naturally, such numbers could change dramatically before the online voting deadline of 11:59 p.m. on July 5. Let the Braves begin to struggle and some team such as the Nationals, Dodgers or Cardinals take flight and most of the Braves could be watching the game from their TV rooms. Especially since each fan can vote a maximum of 35 times.
But should the Braves continue to play at or near their current pace, and Freeman, Markakis and Albies - as well as shortstop Dansby Swanson, catcher Matt Suzuki (currently third in votes for catchers) and outfielders Ronald Acuna and Ender Inciarte - keep producing their current numbers, it's possible for Atlanta to flood the All-Star roster with position players.
Throw in the fact that at least one Atlanta pitcher - Sean Newcomb, Mike Foltynewicz, possibly the newly healthy Julio Teheran or even 20-year-old Canadian Mike Soroka, who'll start tonight in Toronto - could make the All-Star lineup and the NL All-Star roster could look much as it did in 1996, when six Braves reached the Midsummer Classic.
Nor should anyone argue it wouldn't be deserved, at least at this point.
Freeman, currently making a bid for NL MVP, is batting .337 - second to former Brave Matt Kemp's .338 - as well as owning the league's best on-base percentage (.427) and slugging percentage (.585). Markakis leads the NL with 92 hits (Freeman has 91) and ranks third in slugging percentage (.488). Albies has clubbed 16 homers and is tied for the NL lead in runs (53) and doubles (21).
All Newcomb has done thus far in his second season is post an 8-2 record with a 2.70 earned run average. Yet the whole staff is on a roll, having posted a 2.20 ERA over the past 17 games.
Let this continue and NL Manager of the Year can go only to one man: Braves skipper Brian Snitker.
It's not just the potential All-Stars who are constructing this amazing Atlanta summer, however. Calhoun High School product Charlie Culberson launched his third game-winning homer of the season on Saturday in Newcomb's 1-0 win over San Diego. His first two game-winners were walk-offs.
The bullpen, though occasionally spotty, has been more good than bad. The pitching staff overall ended the weekend with the fourth best overall ERA in the majors at 3.33.
Said Snitker to MLB.com after Teheran tossed six no-hit innings in Sunday's win over the Padres and Soroka returned for tonight's game at Toronto: "It allows you to take a big step forward, getting those two guys back. Both were really good. It was just really good to see the crispness on Julio's stuff again."
Added Teheran on the same website: "When you have your arm feeling good, you don't have anything else to worry about."
If all the Braves' arms and all the Braves' bats keep feeling this good, the rest of the National League is going to have to worry about what to do with Atlanta come October.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com