The Atlanta Braves had won 11 of their last 17 games heading into Tuesday night's visit from the Oakland A's.
Not a single one of those wins has come against a team with a winning record, and with Oakland mired in last place in the AL West, that statistic is not going to change any time soon.
This is not to necessarily throw cold water on the Braves' recent improvement. Wins are wins and when you entered Tuesday evening one game above .500 (28-27) for the first time since you were 2-1 on April 9, you shouldn't let anyone or anything curb your enthusiasm for potential success moving forward.
As former A's star and current Atlanta first baseman Matt Olson said after swatting a three-run homer in Colorado on Sunday to help lift the Braves to an 8-7 victory and a four-game sweep of the Rockies: "Any sweep you get is a good one. To come here and have the guys throw the way they did this entire series and have it be a four-game sweep is nice."
And he's right. Every winning streak must start somewhere, and after losing the first two games of a seven-game road trip last week at Arizona, the Bravos rallied to win the third game of that series against the Diamondbacks, then sweep the Rockies.
Beyond that, Atlanta's Bum-of-the-Night schedule looks as if it will continue a while longer. Just as its past 17 games have come against teams with losing records, so will its next 12, which means the Braves have a remarkable opportunity to become relevant in a National League East where the New York Mets currently own a 8.5-game lead over them.
In fact, failing to win at least nine of those 12 - starting on Tuesday against Oakland - could prove quite troublesome for Atlanta's goal to repeat as World Series champs. That's because of the four teams just ahead on the schedule - Oakland, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Washington - only Pittsburgh is less than 10 games under .500 at the moment.
Such scheduling luck won't last forever. From June 20-26, the Braves host the San Francisco Giants (29-24 at Tuesday's dawn) for four games and the Los Angeles Dodgers (35-19) for three. And while July offers 16 games against teams currently below .500, Atlanta will face 17 contests in August against teams currently above .500.
And all of that makes these next 11 after Tuesday more than a little important, if not downright critical.
Yet the schedule alone between now and August is not the only reason to feel better about the Braves over the next six or seven weeks.
Ronald Acuna Jr. got four hits on Sunday, tying his career high. He also crushed a 441-foot homer. According to MLB.com, Acuna is batting .357 with two homers over his last 19 games, further proof that his knee injury from a year ago is all but hehind him.
Said Acuna to MLB.com after the final win at Colorado: "I think it's good, because we saw I can play three games out in the outfield. And we saw it's getting better and we saw what I was capable of doing."
Nor is Acuna the only Brave coming alive at the plate. The aforementioned Olson has hit .288 with three homers over the last two weeks. Adam Duvall - though he was still below .200 for the year (.199 entering Tuesday night), swatted a two-run homer in Saturday's 11th inning, then followed that up with a double and triple on Sunday.
While it's no doubt prudent to keep in mind that all of this good news is coming against bad teams, this same Braves organization was three games south of .500 (26-29) after 55 games last season and wound up winning its first world championship since 1995. Now no worse than .500 heading into Wednesday, Atlanta could easily be 10 games above .500 before the Giants and Dodgers roll into town in late June.
"The guys are in a good spot," said Sunday winning pitcher Charlie Morton, who gets better every time out. "We're just trying to get on a roll here and sustain one."
Added Olson to the Associated Press: "I think everybody in here knows the talent that's in here and the type of team that we have with everything that was accomplished last year. It feels like we're starting to get on that roll."
They certainly seem to be beginning to roll against the league's least. Whether they can do the same against the best may not be clear until the dog days of August. Then again, that's also when the Braves made their move from chumps to champs a year ago. If history repeats, so will Atlanta.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.