The Braves reached the end of June with a loss to the Cardinals, and the timing may not have felt accidental. Atlanta once looked like it had the NL East under control, but that cushion has nearly vanished. What was a 10-game lead has been trimmed to 2.5 games as July begins, with the Phillies closing hard.
That slide has changed the conversation around the Braves in a hurry. Through the first two months, they looked like the class of MLB, finishing May at 40-20 and sitting comfortably in front of the division.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, was still digging out of an ugly start at 30-29 and 9 1/2 games back. Since then, the script has flipped some: Atlanta went 9-13 in June, while the Phillies surged to 17-8 over their last 25 games.
With the division tightening, Atlanta’s front office is already signaling it plans to be active. General manager Alex Anthopoulos made that clear when he said, “I fully expect and hope that we will be engaged in trades come July.
I'm not trying to overly excite anybody or promise anything. But if we're playing the way we are right now, we're going to be in there,” Anthopoulos said.
Pitching is the obvious place to start, and one name that has come up is Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara. A proposed deal would bring the former Cy Young winner to Atlanta and give the Braves another major arm alongside Chris Sale.
“If the Braves can convince the Marlins to deal Alcantara within the division, he’d be a welcome addition to Atlanta’s rotation. The former Cy Young winner hasn’t had too much success since he missed the 2024 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, but he’s bounced back to some degree this year.
Through 16 starts, he owns a 4.18 ERA (3.99 FIP) and has 77 strikeouts across 103 1/3 innings. While he’s no longer a Cy Young-caliber starter, he’s still a reliable arm who can pitch deep into games,” Rasmussen wrote.
Atlanta knows what Alcantara has been at his best, and that’s part of the appeal. The Braves need help in the rotation, and a proven veteran with his track record would fit the bill. He is also attached to a $56 million contract, which makes him an attainable target for a team that needs impact pitching without blowing up the roster.
A trade within the division would not be simple. But for a Braves club trying to stop its slide and stabilize the rotation, Alcantara is the kind of move that could make plenty of sense.
In Other News...
Phillies Linked To Surprising Twins All-Star Trade Buzz
ESPNs David Schoenfield has put a different kind of Twins trade idea in the Phillies lap, one that starts with rotation depth instead of a bigger bat. Philadelphia has been searching for help on both sides of the ball, and the conversation here is whether the best way to spend its resources is to add another starter or keep chasing a right-handed hitting outfielder who better addresses the lineup.
The appeal is obvious enough for a team trying to build around a top-end rotation, but the fit is not so simple when you start weighing roles and costs. A move for Joe Ryan would strengthen the pitching mix, yet it would also mean passing on the more natural offensive answer, and the Phillies are left with the same question many contenders face this time of year: fix the staff now, or keep pushing for the kind of lineup upgrade that changes more than one inning at a time. [Read more 🡒]
Phillies Roster Squeeze Feels Inevitable As Trade Deadline Nears
As the trade deadline draws closer, the Phillies path to a cleaner roster is starting to look pretty straightforward. If president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski brings in the kind of help this club has been linked to, the hardest part may not be finding upgrades - it may be deciding which depth pieces get pushed out to make room. Thats especially true with a few spots already under pressure, and the margin for error getting thinner by the day.
Rafael Marchn, Gabriel Rincones Jr., Alan Rangel and Kyle Backhus all sit in that vulnerable middle ground where opportunity has run out before production has arrived. Marchns bat has not given the Phillies much behind J.T. Realmuto and Garrett Stubbs, Rincones has been losing ground in the outfield picture, and both Rangel and Backhus are the kinds of arms a contender can replace quickly if a better option becomes available. For a team trying to sharpen its roster without weakening its depth, the deadline could bring a quiet but significant round of shuffling. [Read more 🡒]
Shohei Ohtanis All-Star Pitching Status Suddenly Feels Far Less Certain
With the 2026 MLB All-Star Game still a year away, the early picture is already taking shape for the Phillies, who are expected to have a few representatives in the event and could see Brandon Marsh line up as a starter. On the mound, Cristopher Sanchez has begun to look like a real contender to get the nod for the National League, with the pitching calendar for some of the top alternatives giving him a clearer path than he might have had a few weeks ago.
Philadelphias outlook is still fluid, though, because All-Star pitching plans have a way of changing as the season goes on and rotations get shuffled. If the scheduling around the top NL arms holds, Sanchezs case gets stronger, and Zack Wheeler remains another name worth watching for the Phillies if the league ends up looking elsewhere for its starter. [Read more 🡒]