Ronald Acuna Jr.’s regular-season brilliance has never been in question. His postseason production, though, has become a glaring Braves problem.
After Atlanta dropped Game 3 of the NLDS to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the club is now one loss from elimination and facing a must-win Wednesday night. With Tyler Mahle set to take the ball, the Braves need the offense to wake up - and Acuna is one of the biggest names under the microscope.
A statistic shared by Jason Foster of Sports and State laid out just how strange Acuna’s recent October struggles have been. Since the 2020 postseason, Foster noted, Acuna has more MVP awards than postseason RBIs.
"Ronald Acuna Jr. has more MVP Awards (1) than postseason RBIs since 2020," Foster shared following the Braves' Game 3 loss to the Dodgers.
That line stings because it captures a trend, not just one bad night. In Game 3, Acuna went 0-for-3 with one walk and one strikeout, continuing a stretch that has been frustratingly quiet for one of baseball’s most dangerous hitters.
Since the 2020 postseason, Acuna had three RBIs in a 12-game playoff run for Atlanta. He missed the 2021 playoffs because of injury, then returned in 2022 and hit .333 with an .812 OPS in four games against the Philadelphia Phillies, but he still didn’t drive in a run. The bat was there in terms of contact, but not when it came to finishing innings.
The next year was even rougher. In 2023, Acuna played four games against the Phillies and managed only a .143 average and a .508 OPS, again without an RBI.
Now in 2026, after another series against Philadelphia - this time a win - Acuna has gone six games without recording an RBI.
That means no sacrifice fly, no bases-loaded walk, no homer. Nothing.
The weird part is how sharply that postseason drought contrasts with everything Acuna has done elsewhere. In 2023, he won the NL MVP award with 73 stolen bases, a 1.012 OPS, 41 home runs, and 106 RBIs. Over the six seasons since his last postseason RBI, he has still piled up 19.2 bWAR across 611 games, with 675 hits, 125 home runs, 320 RBIs, 165 stolen bases, and an .867 OPS, along with that one MVP.
So the overall résumé remains elite. But the October line is the one sticking out now, and it is a brutal one for a player the Braves badly need to deliver when the season starts tightening.
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Freddie Freeman Just Reopened An Uncomfortable Debate For Braves Fans
Freddie Freemans return to Atlanta brought the kind of reminder Braves fans expected and probably did not want. In Game 3, the former Braves first baseman went deep in the fourth inning to help the Dodgers move ahead in the series, and the home crowd met him with boos. Freeman, who spent 12 years in Atlanta before leaving for Los Angeles, said afterward he was unfazed by the reaction and still appreciative of his old team.
For Braves fans, the moment reopened a familiar debate about how to process one of the franchises modern icons wearing a different uniform in October. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged the crowds response, but also pointed to the respect that remains for Freeman, even in a building where emotions clearly have not faded. It was the sort of postseason scene that leaves the baseball part of the story settled for the night, while the personal part hangs around a little longer. [Read more 🡒]