What kind of season was this for the Braves? The kind that never really made sense, yet kept producing wins anyway.
Atlanta came into the year with real questions hanging over it after missing the postseason for the first time since 2017, then had those worries ramped up even more when Spencer Schwellenbach, Hurston Waldrep, and Spencer Stride r were hurt in Spring Training. A new manager was in place after Brian Snitker decided to hang it up, and from the outside, it looked like a team that could easily spend the year chasing stability.
Instead, the Braves grabbed the NL East lead on April 10th and had the best record in baseball through the first two months. Up through June, everything seemed to be working. After that, the cracks showed.
The rotation took hit after hit. The bullpen lost one of its top arms in Robert Suarez, who didn’t get back on the mound until last night. And oddly enough, it was the offense that did the most to drag the team down over the final four months.
Austin Riley never really got comfortable, and he’s still trying to sort it out in a hurry before postseason baseball begins next week. Ronald Acuña Jr. missed more than 50 games.
Drake Baldwin was out for a month. Sean Murphy missed damn near the entire season.
Ozzie Albies started hot, then fell off a cliff.
That is not the profile of a division winner. But Atlanta kept finding answers. Every time it looked like the season might slip away, the Braves strung together another run, stayed ahead of the Phillies, and wrapped up the division with a week left.
The record tells part of the story. The Braves haven’t been an elite team from a record or statistical standpoint for quite some time, and on paper their rotation should be one of the worst in the league.
Most people had already counted them out for October, and plenty didn’t think they’d even get there. Yet they kept grinding, and when the dust settles, they’ll likely have 95 wins, which would be the fourth-best mark in Major League Baseball.
That’s why ESPN handed Atlanta an A for the regular season.
“More steady than dominant, the Braves built an early lead in the NL East but appeared vulnerable at times to the Phillies catching them - a lead that was as large as 10½ games on May 22 got as low as two games - but Atlanta beat Philadelphia four out of seven games in September to essentially wrap up the division,” David Schoenfield writes.
“Huge shoutout to Chris Sale, who carried a rotation that received just eight starts from Spencer Strider and none from Spencer Schwellenbach. Grant Holmes and Martin Perez also stepped up, while trade addition Tyler Mahle has been the best pickup of the deadline. Alongside Sale, the bullpen has been the team’s MVP, with the highest win probability added in the majors.”
That bullpen held together all year, and the Braves’ collection of arms rarely looked rattled. Rookie Didier Fuentes had a huge breakout season and may be the most underrated reliever in the sport right now.
Grant Holmes, Martin Perez, and Bryce Elder deserve plenty of credit too. They were the kind of fringe roster pieces who ended up making the difference, and without them, Atlanta is probably staring at a long offseason instead of planning for October.
There’s also room to question Alex Anthopoulos for not being more aggressive last winter or at the trade deadline. The roster had obvious holes that could have been addressed.
But this regular-season grade isn’t about front-office decisions. It’s about the 26 players in the clubhouse and the 20 more who got into games during the year.
Given the injuries and everything else stacked against them, this roster had no business winning the division as comfortably as it did. That makes what Walt Weiss did all season worthy of strong consideration for NL Manager of the Year honors.
In Other News...
Braves Playoff Rotation Just Lost A Starter At The Worst Time
The Braves playoff rotation took a hit at the worst possible time Monday, when the club announced that Martn Prez is headed to the injured list with lower back inflammation. It is a late setback for a team trying to line up its pitching for October, and it leaves Atlanta with less breathing room than it wanted as the postseason gets underway.
Prez was in position to matter in the NL Wild Card Series, and his absence also carries over into the NLDS if the Braves advance. With only a short window to adjust, Atlanta now has to rethink how it wants to piece together its early-round pitching plans while waiting to see how the rotation picture settles. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Could Dangle Big Names To Fix A Roster Problem
The Braves have already wrapped up the NL East, but the work ahead in Atlanta is likely to be less about celebrating the division title and more about figuring out how to smooth out a roster issue that has lingered beneath the surface. With an offseason in front of them, the front office could have to weigh whether the cleanest path to improvement means moving from a position of depth or from a few recognizable names who still carry real value in the market.
Alex Lodise, Cam Caminiti, Eric Hartman, Ozzie Albies, Spencer Strider and Reynaldo Lopez are among the players mentioned as possible trade candidates, and each brings a different mix of recent performance and contract considerations that could shape how other clubs view them. For the Braves, the calculation is less about attaching a label to any one player and more about deciding which pieces are most useful in solving the problem at hand without weakening the core that got them back to the top of the division. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Leave Cincinnati With One Big October Concern
The Braves spent a weekend in Cincinnati with little left to decide in the standings, but plenty to monitor as October approaches. Ronald Acua Jr. left with a shin contusion, though the early tests came back clean, and Atlanta also got a mixed bag on the field with a shutout loss, a narrow extra-innings win and another close defeat. There were bright spots along the way, including work from pitchers JR Ritchie and Chris Sale, plus contributions from Matt Olson and Austin Riley, but the bigger picture was less about the record than about how the group is holding up.
For a club that already has its division and postseason position locked in, the final tune-ups are about health and rhythm, and Acuas status now sits at the center of that conversation. The Braves do not need to chase anything in the standings, which makes every late-game decision and every awkward step on the bases feel a little more important than usual, especially with October closing in and the margin for error shrinking in a different way. [Read more 🡒]