The Atlanta Braves Are the Hottest Team in Baseball

It has been a full 180-degree turn for the Atlanta Braves entering May as opposed to last season. Atlanta currently sits 25-10, leading the National League East by 8.5 games and sporting the best record in the entire MLB.

Last season, the Braves were sitting at 14-16 entering May, having scored a total of 127 runs and given up 126. The record doesn’t even show just how bad it was, as Atlanta finished the month of April with a 9-3 record after starting off 5-13. The team would never spend a day in first place in the NL East and finished 20 games behind the Phillies with a 76-86 record.

It was not until May 16 that the Braves would win their 23rd game of the season. This season, Atlanta just accomplished this feat on the last day of April. They have scored 205 runs and only given up 124.

What Atlanta has done through these first 35 games of the season has been nothing short of remarkable, and the best part is that I believe it is fully sustainable.

Stats updated prior to first pitch on May 4.

The Rotation Has Stepped Up

The biggest question mark heading into the 2026 season was, far and away, how the pitching staff would perform.

Last season, all five starters on the Opening Day roster landed on the 60-day IL at some point in the year. Spencer Strider’s return to the mound after elbow surgery was delayed due to a hamstring issue. Toward the end of the season, Atlanta relied on guys like Erick Fedde, Carlos Carrasco, Cal Quantrill, and Davis Daniel to give them starts.

The entire pitching staff finished as a bottom-10 staff in MLB, and the pain was felt in both the starting rotation and the bullpen.

With Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach, Hurston Waldrep, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Joey Wentz beginning the 2026 season on the IL, many felt that the Braves made a mistake not addressing their starting rotation in the offseason.

Other than Chris Sale, the rest of the Opening Day rotation had a lot of questions surrounding them. However, they have shown that Alex Anthopolous made the correct decision in not bringing in just any pitcher for depth:

Chris Sale has been Chris Sale. Both Grant Holmes and Reynaldo López have been good enough to keep the offense in ball games, which so far this year has resulted in wins rather than losses. Martín Pérez has turned back the clock, and despite not being considered a legitimate option for the ball club as pitchers get healthier, he is forcing a discussion to stay on the roster.

It has been Bryce Elder who has been the biggest story on the Atlanta Braves.

Elder made his debut in 2022, making nine starts with a 3.17 ERA and 1.24 WHIP. In 2023, he started the season 7-2 with a 2.97 ERA and 1.20 WHIP, earning a surprising All-Star appearance.

However, since the 2023 All-Star break leading into the beginning of this season, Elder struggled mightily, with a 5.11 ERA, 4.92 FIP, and 1.40 WHIP.

Many, including myself, dreaded the thought that Elder would start the season in the starting rotation due to injuries. After receiving some insights from Hall of Famer Greg Maddux in the offseason, he has proven everybody wrong.

A few simple changes have worked wonders. In seven starts this season, Elder has pitched to just a 1.88 ERA and 1.05 WHIP.

Sure, there may be some regression coming for Elder, and guys like López, Holmes, and Pérez, but a team like Atlanta can sustain those regressions.

Rookie JR Ritchie has looked the part of Just Baseball’s preseason No. 83 prospect so far. After his first two big league starts, he has a 2.92 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. Fellow rookie Didier Fuentes has also shown promise in both the rotation and out of the bullpen, allowing five runs and nine hits with 12 strikeouts across his 10.2 innings.

As a staff, the Atlanta Braves starting rotation ranks fifth in the league in batting average against (.214), eighth in WHIP (1.21), and eighth in hard hit percentage (39.0%) despite facing seven of the top 15 offenses in the league.

Strider returned to the rotation on May 3, and although he struggled with his control, he struck out six with 14 whiffs in 3.1 innings. Waldrep is weeks away from beginning to ramp up toward his return. Schwellenbach and Smith-Shawver are progressing well and could make it back in the second half of the season.

Atlanta has the starting depth that most teams could only dream about.

The Bullpen Has Slammed Doors Shut

It is not just the starting rotation that has been great. The bullpen has been just as strong.

Arguably the biggest offseason addition Atlanta made before the 2026 season was bringing in former Padres closer Robert Suárez on a three-year, $45 million deal to pair with Dylan Lee and Raisel Iglesias, who the Braves brought back.

To say these three have been nails would be a massive understatement. I would go on to say that there is no back end of a bullpen that has been stronger than that trio, outside of Mason Miller’s singular performance this season. While Iglesias has been on the IL for the last two weeks with shoulder inflammation, he is expected to return on Tuesday.

As a whole, the bullpen ranks first in the MLB in WHIP (1.11), second in average (.212), and fourth in ERA (3.22).

While the backend of the bullpen has been fantastic, there are still some issues that need to be addressed. On the morning of May 1, both Joel Payamps and José Suarez were DFA’d. They have been replaced in the bullpen by Carlos Carrasco, as well as Didier Fuentes and Reynaldo López, who are pitching in relief temporarily.

All told, what the bullpen has given the team is more than anyone could have asked for. It is a return to meeting the expectation of an Atlanta Braves bullpen.

Every year, regardless of starting pitcher or offensive performance, you could always count on the bullpen being amongst the best in baseball. Last season, that simply was not the case, but this season has returned to the standard.

The Offense Has Returned To Form

As Braves fans, we had gotten used to seeing a fun and explosive offense every year since the rebuild finished in 2018. Even if they weren’t always performing up to their historic 2023 level, it was fun baseball.

Last year, the offense never seemed to find its footing. Ronald Acuña Jr started the season on the IL, Jurickson Profar was suspended 80-games for PEDs (the first of two instances), and guys like Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies, and Sean Murphy missed huge chunks of time.

If it weren’t for a Rookie of the Year season from Drake Baldwin, Matt Olson recording the highest fWAR among first basemen, and the offense catching fire in the later months after being eliminated from the playoffs, the numbers would have looked even worse.

The Braves have returned to being one of the best offenses in baseball so far in 2026. The team ranks first in runs (205), average (.276), wOBA (.354), and wRC+ (124), second in home runs (50), and fourth in strikeout rate (19.6%) and in on-base percentage (.342). This has been thanks in huge part to some unsung heroes stepping up in their moments.

While their overall schedule has not necessarily been murderer’s row, Atlanta has faced five of the top 15 pitchers in baseball according to fWAR: Tarik Skubal, Parker Messick, Cristopher Sánchez, José Soriano, and Seth Lugo.

Yes, guys like Mauricio Dubón, Dominic Smith, and Jorge Mateo will most likely slow down. But who is to say they all can’t still produce at or above league average? Who is to say that Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II, each of whom has struggled in the past few seasons (specifically in the first halves), hasn’t figured out how to sustain this success?

The scariest part of it all is that Ronald Acuña Jr has yet to play like he is capable of. Before he injured his hamstring, he was only somewhat better than a league-average hitter with just a 111 wRC+ and only two home runs. There is no doubt in my mind that he will come back, figure it out and end the year as one of the better offensive players in all of baseball.

For Austin Riley, things have not looked great. He seems lost at the plate, unable to make hard contact, and getting to the point where he may have to be temporarily removed from an everyday role. If there is one cause for concern with the Braves, he would be it.

Drake Baldwin has bumped the notion of a sophomore slump. Out of qualified catchers, he ranks second in average and third in OPS. He has the fourth most hits and RBIs in the entire league.

Matt Olson has not only been one of the best first basemen in baseball, but one of the top hitters in all of baseball.

Sean Murphy returned on Monday, while Ha-Seong Kim is currently on a rehab assignment and is set to return sooner rather than later, giving an already deadly Braves offense even more firepower.

With Kim slotting back into the everyday shortstop role, Dubón will be unleashed as the super utility player the Braves envisioned when acquiring him. Murphy’s return will allow Baldwin to continue to get plenty of DH reps while not having the struggling bat of Jonah Heim in the lineup. Not only the starting nine, but the bench will be amongst the deepest in baseball.

Can Atlanta Pull Away?

As bad as last season was for the Atlanta Braves and their fans, there are two organizations that just might be going through an even worse experience this season: the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies.

There is still plenty of baseball to play, but as of May 4, the Mets sit 12.5 games back, and the Phillies sit 10.5 games back of Atlanta in the NL East standings.

For the Braves, this is the time to strike if they want to build up a lead that may be just enough to bury both teams before the All-Star break, similar to what happened to Atlanta last season.

While the Braves are unlikely to win 70% of their games for the entire season, the way they have played is more than sustainable. The offense is clicking like we had seen for many years (prior to last season), the bullpen is back to Atlanta’s high standard, and the rotation has been one of the best in baseball. And all of this is true with so many key players still on the IL.