The Braves are heading home after a West Coast trip that turned into a mess, and the biggest reason is impossible to miss: the offense has gone cold at exactly the wrong time.
Atlanta went 1-5 out west, and in five of those games the club managed just seven runs. That kind of production is jarring for a lineup that spent the first two months of the season sitting near the top of the league in just about every meaningful offensive category, and it’s even more surprising because the Braves were doing it without being close to full strength.
Ronald Acuña Jr. was out, Drake Baldwin was dealing with an oblique injury that still seems to be bothering him even after returning, and yet the group still rolled through April and May as one of baseball’s best offenses. June has flipped everything on its head. The Braves have somehow become the worst offensive team in the month, posting a 65 wRC+, which is 35% below league average and last in baseball by 18 points.
That’s the sort of number that forces a real reckoning, even if first-year manager Walt Weiss isn’t interested in looking over his shoulder at the standings. Atlanta’s lead in the NL East has shrunk while the Phillies have heated up, but Weiss made it clear he’s focused only on his own club.
“Yeah, I don’t care what (the division) lead is. I could care less,” Weiss said, via Chad Bishop of The Atlanta Journal Constitution.
“It’s early. We knew we had a big lead early and there was several months to go.
I’m not worried about anybody else but ourselves right now.”
That kind of answer fits the reality of a 162-game season, where a bad stretch can feel enormous in the moment and then look different a month later. Weiss, like his predecessor, knows better than to panic when things are rolling or when they’re falling apart.
Still, there’s no sugarcoating where the Braves are right now. The rotation has unraveled, with Chris Sale the lone starter they can count on. And the lineup, the unit that was supposed to carry the team, looks a lot like the version that showed up throughout the 2025 campaign.
There is some hope on the horizon. The trade deadline could bring help, and Acuña is expected back eventually. But neither of those fixes is arriving in time to rescue Atlanta in the immediate future.
Acuña probably won’t be back until after the All-Star break, and the Braves are being careful with him because this is the second injury to the same hamstring. Trade talks also haven’t really gotten going yet, which means Alex Anthopoulos still has weeks before he can seriously address the roster.
So even with possible reinforcements coming later, the picture has changed. The NL East no longer feels like Atlanta’s to lose, and a playoff spot doesn’t look automatic anymore. That’s a brutal turn for a team that seemed untouchable only a month ago.
In Other News...
Braves Bullpen Plan Is Running Into A Problem Fans Saw Coming
The Braves went into the season built to win games late, with the front office leaning into bullpen depth and trying to keep its best relievers fresh for October. In practice, though, that plan has had to survive a stretched rotation and a month of uneven starting pitching, with June exposing how quickly one part of the roster can unravel when another is being protected.
Chris Sale is a big part of the tension. Atlanta has kept him off regular rest for much of the season, and he is lined up for his fourth start of June and his first in 10 days, a reminder of how carefully the club has managed its ace while trying to cover for thinner starting depth. Add in injuries that have taken Raisel Iglesias and Robert Suarez out of the late-inning mix at different points, plus high-leverage innings that have already gone sideways, and the Braves are finding out what fans feared when the roster was built: a strong bullpen plan only works if the rest of the pitching staff can hold up around it. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Offensive Collapse Puts One Uncomfortable Question Front And Center
The Braves lineup has gone from one of the National Leagues more productive groups in May to a far murkier operation in June, and the numbers tell a frustratingly familiar story for a team that expected its offense to carry more of the load. Injuries have been part of the backdrop throughout the month, with Ronald Acua Jr., Michael Harris II, Sean Murphy, Drake Baldwin, Eli White and Ha-Seong Kim all dealing with their own issues or delays, leaving Atlanta to patch together run production as the roster has thinned out.
Mauricio Dubon has at least given the club a modest lift with a stronger June, but the larger concern is whether the Braves are seeing a temporary slump or something more systemic as the lineup keeps shuffling. When the bats are this quiet and the available pieces keep changing, the conversation naturally drifts beyond the players on the field and toward how much responsibility still falls on the coaching staff to find answers before the season drifts any farther off course. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Make A Veteran Move As Pressure Builds During Brutal Slide
The Braves have been searching for answers during a rough stretch that has left them with 11 losses in their last 15 games, and the issues have not been confined to one area. The offense has been uneven, the starting pitching has not held up its end, and with the July trade deadline approaching, general manager Alex Anthopoulos has already signaled that the club expects to be active in the market.
Carlos Santana is part of that broader effort to stabilize the roster, bringing a long track record and some postseason pedigree from his time with Cleveland, including the 2016 World Series run. The veteran first baseman will begin at Triple-A, with the possibility of working his way into the major league picture if the Braves decide they need more help on the right side of the infield and in a potential platoon role. [Read more 🡒]