The Braves are heading into another winter with a familiar mission: figure out how to turn a good regular season into something better in October.
Atlanta won 94 games, took the National League East under first-year manager Walt Weiss and then watched the postseason end Wednesday with a Game 4 NLDS loss to the Dodgers. That leaves the Braves with another early exit and a playoff record that has been hard to ignore. Since winning the World Series in 2021, they’ve won only one postseason series - this year’s Wild Card Series - and are 5-12 in the playoffs.
There was still plenty that worked in 2026. After a rough, injury-filled 2025 season in Brian Snitker’s final year, the Braves rebounded by 18 wins and got healthier under Weiss. But the end result was the same old sting: a strong season that didn’t survive long enough once the games got bigger.
Now the focus shifts to what comes next, and the questions start with the core.
One of the biggest concerns is whether some of Atlanta’s longtime pillars are already sliding. Third baseman Austin Riley is at the center of that conversation.
He delivered a clutch homer in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, but the bigger picture has turned worrisome. From 2021 through 2023, Riley piled up three straight top-10 finishes in NL MVP voting.
Since then, his production has backed up each year. His OPS+ went from 135 during that peak stretch to 115 in 2024, then 105 in 2025, and all the way down to 80 this past season.
The underlying batted-ball numbers suggest the decline was real, not just bad luck, with rising strikeout, chase and whiff rates. He’s signed through 2032, so this is not a short-term issue.
Second baseman Ozzie Albies is in a similar lane. He’s on a $7 million team option for next season at the tail end of a very team-friendly extension, but his OPS+ has dropped every year since 2023. At age 29, he posted the worst quality of contact of his career this season, which is not the kind of trend Atlanta wants to see.
Ronald Acuña Jr. also dipped offensively in 2026, even as he moved farther away from his second ACL tear. He’s 28 and has club options for 2027 and 2028, but the warning signs are there: his average exit velocities have fallen sharply, and he has struggled to pull the ball in the air. He’s still not a liability, but if that authority doesn’t come back, the superstar version of Acuña Jr. may already be fading.
Catcher Sean Murphy is another name worth watching. He has been injured for most of the last three seasons and has often been ineffective when available.
That stings even more given what Atlanta gave up to get him - William Contreras, who was an All-Star this season with the Boston Red Sox, in the three-way deal that brought Murphy to the Braves. Murphy just turned 32 and is signed through 2028.
Not everything in the lineup is slipping, though. Matt Olson is still a top producer, and Drake Baldwin and Michael Harris II, both 25, look like long-term building blocks.
The other major question sits on the mound, starting with Chris Sale. In three seasons with Atlanta, the left-hander has posted a 2.36 ERA in 76 starts and one relief appearance while adding 15.6 WAR to his career total.
At 37, he’s still overpowering hitters, leading the majors in K/BB ratio this season and striking out more than 30% of opposing batters. His velocity spike has held, and the performance has been every bit as loud as the numbers suggest.
But he turns 38 in late March, and with his injury history, nothing is guaranteed.
If Atlanta wants to stay near the top of the NL East in 2027, it may need another big year from Sale.
It may also need a major addition to the rotation. The Braves are still in the market for a shortstop, and left field remains a problem, but another front-line starter could be the most pressing need of all.
The upcoming free-agent class isn’t especially deep, yet there are names that would matter. Tarik Skubal is the headliner, and Atlanta reportedly pursued him before the most recent trade deadline.
Michael King, Casey Mize, Freddy Peralta and Trevor Rogers are also in the mix, though the drop-off after Skubal and King is noticeable.
Payroll will matter here. The Braves have $176 million committed for next season before arbitration raises and Acuña Jr.’s $17 million club option.
Whether they can push further will depend on budget and on how the CBA talks play out. Still, if the Braves want to keep pressing while the Phillies age, the Mets continue to meander and the Marlins and Nationals work toward becoming threats, this is the time to stay aggressive.
What happens next in 2027 may come down to how boldly Atlanta attacks those holes.
In Other News...
Braves Season Ended With The Breakdown Fans Feared Most
For much of October, the Braves were chasing a version of themselves that looked closer to the club fans expected all season, but Game 4 against the Dodgers ended with the kind of unraveling that has lingered over too many recent postseason exits. Los Angeles beat Atlanta 4-1 to close out the NLDS, and the game tilted toward the Dodgers as they took advantage of defensive mistakes and came through with the kind of timely hits that separate a tense playoff night from a breakthrough.
Michael Harris II provided the lone notable spark on offense, but it was never enough to force the Dodgers into real trouble. Instead, Atlanta watched a familiar script play out, with the offense unable to build on small openings and the margin for error shrinking until it disappeared. The Dodgers move on to the NLCS, while the Braves are left with another October that ended the way their fans feared most. [Read more 🡒]
Tyler Mahle Just Made The Braves' Offseason Much More Interesting
Tyler Mahles brief run with Atlanta in the 2026 NLDS against the Dodgers gave the Braves another arm they could trust in October, and it also gave the front office something to think about once the offseason arrived. Mahle said he enjoyed his time with the club and made clear he would be open to coming back if the chance comes together, which is exactly the kind of comment a team pays attention to after a postseason series.
The challenge for Atlanta is that this one may not be simple to line up quickly. Mahle is expected to draw interest from multiple teams in a shallow free-agent market, and while there is obvious mutual interest in keeping the door open, no agreement is in place yet. For a Braves club always trying to balance upside, timing and cost on the pitching side, that leaves Mahle as one of the more intriguing names to watch this winter. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Still Have One October Problem Fans Cant Ignore
The Braves had plenty to feel good about in 2026. They won 94 games, took the NL East, got through the Wild Card Series and leaned on a pitching staff that held up well from start to finish, with Chris Sale and Tyler Mahle among the arms helping carry the load. Even after the season ended in the Divisional Series, there was enough across the roster to suggest this club was built to play deep into October.
Still, the ending looked familiar in the one area Atlanta could not afford to lose: offense. The bats went cold in the postseason, with key hitters struggling to produce and the lineup unable to match the standard the club had set during the regular season. Manager Walt Weiss praised the overall effort, but the disappointment came from knowing the pitching was good enough to keep the window open and the offense did not hold up its end when the games tightened. [Read more 🡒]