![\"Thankful](\"https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/u7FChl8F3p2_QnxgoIlksxEhmJc=\/0x0:4258x3197\/320x0\/filters:focal(0x0:4258x3197):format(webp):no_upscale()\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/25761146\/2175173728.jpg)
<\/picture> <\/span> Photo by Todd Kirkland\/MLB Photos via Getty Images<\/cite><\/figure>\nHere\u2019s to another year of being thankful. Even this year, the side-eye worthy 2024.<\/p>\n
October and November were hot and dry and that saved on the power bill. I\u2019m thankful for that, even if I\u2019d like to have seen frost come several weeks before it did.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for the times when I can make someone laugh – even when they don\u2019t want to – and I\u2019ll act the fool to do so.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for Chris Sale and his magical season. Cy Young? Good for him, it was long over due, but something I don\u2019t think anyone thought was realistic nine months ago. I\u2019m not sure a starting pitcher had more of a surprising season with Atlanta after coming over in a trade since maybe Russ Ortiz.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for those two weeks before the end of the regular season when the Braves clawed their way into the playoffs.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for positive surprises, on the field, or off.<\/p>\n
Campy, old school wrestling matches that follow the basic formula of bad guy \u201cboo\u201d and good guy \u201chooray\u201d are fun more times than they aren\u2019t. I\u2019m thankful for that.<\/p>\n
I wrote a letter to Santa this year. It\u2019s the first one I\u2019d ever written. You\u2019re never too old to believe. If you think you are, you aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for rizz.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for skibiti.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019m sure glad I\u2019m not skibilit toilet phenom tax rizz. Or maybe I am and I\u2019m too old to realize it.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for kids who believe in you almost as much as you believe in them.<\/p>\n
It was a good year in music, something that I\u2019m always thankful for.<\/p>\n
Enjoy what you enjoy and you don\u2019t need to apologize for that. Chappell Roan, here\u2019s to you.<\/p>\n
Among those artist with new albums that have come out this year that I\u2019ve been able to enjoy, thankfully, are Fontaines D.C., Andr\u00e9 3000, Suki Waterhouse, Momma, The Cure, Kendrick Lamar, Magdalena Bay, Dehd, Father John Misty, Kacey Musgraves, DIIV, and many, many more.<\/p>\n
Every year I am thankful for cornbread made from stone-ground corn and cooked in cast iron, the only way it should ever be cooked. Don\u2019t you dare put sugar in my cornbread, or we will have words.<\/p>\n
I haven\u2019t had near-enough homemade biscuits this year. My waistline is thankful for that but I, personally, am not.<\/p>\n
The fall foliage made up for a slow start with an epic marathon – the last couple of weeks of the season really amped up with yellows and oranges seeming more rampant this season. Good job to all the various gums, I noticed you finally decided to show-up and show-out with your reds and purples.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s to the hickory trees who did a lot of the work late and for the maples who are always the belle of the ball. It has been way too long since I\u2019ve had hickory nut cookies, though.<\/p>\n
I am thankful for Gio Urshela and Whit Merrifield for keeping the Braves afloat down the stretch. There are no odds too long for the chance of that sentence being written any time by anyone ever, until September of this year.<\/p>\n
It was a tough season for most to the regulars in Atlanta\u2019s lineup, as we all know. That makes one appreciate Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna just a little bit more since they both played in all 162.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m beginning to worry we may not see 155+ games from both Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acu\u00f1a, Jr. in the same season again – at least not with Atlanta.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful back-handed grounders, fielded cleanly, and outfielders making snowcone catches.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for reinvention.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for perseverance.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful when I order a sandwich and get both a top and bottom bun. Don\u2019t laugh, I failed to get both earlier this week.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for not having hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. I do have to make an effort to do better about using 50 cents words when I write, however.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t like too many sunny days nor too many cloudy days in a row. Balance, don\u2019t you know.<\/p>\n
I still enjoy my coffee. But I\u2019m thankful when I make a cup and it tastes extra delicious. Well, as delicious as coffee can actual taste. That seems to happen less these days. I think it is me and not the cheap coffee of which I partake.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for value. I\u2019m more thankful for quality. Both seem to be in short supply.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful to the grinders.<\/p>\n
Speaking of grinders, I\u2019m thankful for freshly ground black pepper. And Confidence Man.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful that I can be thankful for the small things in life. I feel bad for those who can\u2019t.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for the historic events the grand old game had this season.<\/p>\n
The 2024 Braves season was probably the most frustrating in at least a decade, based on expectations. With each passing year, the concern that the window for championship contention is closing gets stronger. It is hard not to wonder when the word \u201crebuild\u201d starts to enter the lexicon of prognostication in Atlanta\u2019s baseball universe.<\/p>\n
Thankfully, we aren\u2019t there just yet. Otherwise, I would take myself by the collar and become a defenestration practitioner.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful that the changes made the the Braves television broadcast team in the last couple of years have been a net positive.<\/p>\n
I still enjoy listening to baseball on the radio, even if I don\u2019t do it very often.<\/p>\n
I love pies.<\/p>\n
Like, I really love pies.<\/p>\n
These days it seems hard to just flat-out enjoy anything. Everything is bad for you or makes other people upset or gets gobbled-up by venture capital or gets over-analyzed to the point that the soul seems sucked out of many things.<\/p>\n
I prefer the designated hitter rule in the National League but I miss pitchers hitting.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m glad MLB lessened the infield shift and instituted the pitch clock.<\/p>\n
Can MLB do something about adding cameras that are on each foul line and foul pole? For all the discourse about the automated strike zone, the flight of the ball over first or third and over foul pole shouldn\u2019t be a mystery.<\/p>\n
While we are at it, can teams push back seating or put in railings or netting to prevent fans from interfering on balls-in-play?<\/p>\n
I digress.<\/p>\n
Thank you to Jesse Chavez and Travis d\u2019Arnaud and to Max Fried and A.J. Minter. I hope we some of you back here again next season.<\/p>\n
I hope Michael Harris II can stay healthy and take a big leap forward next year.<\/p>\n
I hope the team can stay healthy in 2025.<\/p>\n
I hope we can all stay healthy in 2025.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for so many things this year. I\u2019m thankful that the journey has continued for all of us. I hope if you have struggled this year or if you are struggling today, things get better for you. If you need help, I hope you ask for it and I hope you receive it and that it helps.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful today.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m thankful for another year of sharing part of it with you. Thank you for taking the time to read Battery Power today and every day.<\/p>\n
Thank you to family. Thank you to friends.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m grateful and thankful that we are able to enjoy an era of baseball with the Atlanta Braves that provides us hope and distraction for most of the year.<\/p>\n
Today, I hope your food tasted better; the company you kept was as enjoyable as it has ever been; and that you were blessed with joyfulness.<\/p>\n
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.<\/p>\n
Selah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thanksgiving is a time to reflect and remember the many things we have to be thankful for each year. Yes, even this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n