The Braves’ NLDS exit against the Dodgers had a familiar sour shape to it: an offense that never really got rolling, a pitching staff stretched thin, and a handful of offseason choices that came back to haunt Atlanta at the worst possible time.
Shohei Ohtani barely made a dent, and Los Angeles’ offense wasn’t exactly overwhelming, but the Braves still couldn’t turn that into a real series. Atlanta’s bats were simply that quiet. And when a team gets eliminated like that, the offseason decisions start looking a lot bigger in hindsight.
One of the clearest missteps was signing Ha-Seong Kim. Plenty of outside voices wanted Atlanta to bring him back after the Orlando Arcia shortstop experiment went sideways, and the market didn’t offer many obvious alternatives for a contender.
But Kim’s offseason finger injury quickly undercut the move, costing him a large chunk of the year. Even when he was on the field, the production wasn’t there.
The injury was bad luck, but the bigger issue was the way that $20 million of payroll got tied up in a player who was never really a long-term answer and blocked the Braves from pursuing other external shortstop options.
Left field became another costly bet. Atlanta signed Jurickson Profar expecting a stable bat in the lineup, only for his PED suspension to blindside the organization.
What made the whole thing harder to justify was the lack of a real fallback plan for 2026. Mike Yastrzemski, according to the source, doesn’t count as one.
The Braves appeared to believe Profar’s earlier suspension was a one-time issue, but he tested positive for PEDs again and was suspended for the entire season, leaving the club scrambling.
Then there was the starting pitching problem that had been hanging over the roster from the start of spring training. Atlanta never added another quality starter, and over the course of the season that decision got exposed as injuries piled up for Spencer Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider, Hurston Waldrep, Bryce Elder and Reynaldo Lopez.
The Braves found enough answers to survive the regular season, helped by Jeremy Hefner’s work and a surprisingly effective Martin Perez, but the weakness eventually surfaced in October. The bullpen games with Ray Kerr had some success, but the heavy workload also left key relievers tired or unavailable when it mattered most.
Atlanta got by longer than it probably should have in the regular season. In the postseason, the bill came due.
In Other News...
Braves Shortstop Debate Is Back And One Name Sits At Center
The Braves are already sorting through an offseason shaped by an NL Division Series exit at the hands of the Dodgers, and the list of decisions is longer than just a few roster tweaks. With Tyler Mahle and Mauricio Dubon among the players heading toward free agency, Atlanta may have some priorities on the retention side, but the most intriguing discussion may be the one surrounding shortstop and whether the club wants to keep leaning on Ha-Seong Kim.
Kims year did not give the Braves much reason to settle the debate quickly, and that leaves the position squarely in play as the front office maps out the next step. Atlanta has options to weigh and other areas to address, but shortstop now feels like one of the spots where a new direction is at least on the table, making this one of the more revealing choices of the winter. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Offseason Could Turn On A Few Familiar Free Agent Calls
The Braves offseason may end up coming down to a handful of familiar names, and that makes the decisions feel both practical and precarious. Ha-Seong Kim, Raisel Iglesias, Mauricio Dubon and Tyler Mahle are all in the mix as pending free agents, giving Atlanta a set of options that ranges from dependable bullpen help to versatile depth and rotation upside. With a lockout looming and free-agent spending still clouded by uncertainty, even straightforward roster planning could get pushed into a waiting game.
Among those possibilities, the Braves are weighing performance, fit and cost against a market that may not make life easy. Kim brings a different type of roster flexibility, Dubon offers versatility, and Mahle represents a pitching gamble that could quickly get pricey. Atlanta has reasons to keep talking to several of them, but the real challenge may be deciding which familiar call is worth making first when the market finally opens up. [Read more 🡒]
Max Frieds Yankees Move Suddenly Looks Different To Braves Fans
Max Frieds first season in pinstripes gave the Yankees plenty to feel good about, at least in the long view. The former Braves left-hander settled in as a high-end starter in New York, finished fourth in AL Cy Young voting, and delivered the kind of steady regular-season work that made his move from Atlanta look like a clean fit for a contender. From the Braves side, it was easy enough to understand why his departure stung, but the bigger picture still looked familiar: a frontline pitcher landing with a club built to chase October.
The postseason, though, has a way of changing the mood around a season fast. Frieds numbers have looked less secure once the games have tightened, and the Yankees again found themselves out early in the ALDS, extending a recent pattern that Braves fans know well from their own October frustrations. For Atlanta followers still keeping one eye on their former ace, the question is no longer whether he can handle the spotlight over six months. It is how much the gap between that regular-season comfort and the October finish will shape the way this move gets remembered. [Read more 🡒]