The Braves Are Finally Who They’re Supposed To Be Again
After a letdown of a season in 2025, Atlanta is back on top of the baseball world.
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Last season was an absolute nightmare for the Atlanta Braves. They entered 2025 with the second-best odds to win the World Series, only to finish 76-86.
It seemed as if Murphy’s Law was in effect – everything that could go wrong pretty much did.
Injuries? There were plenty of them. Ronald Acuña Jr. missed the first 49 games of the season. Spencer Strider opened the season on the IL and was never himself. Spencer Schwellenbach missed the rest of the season after an extremely impressive first half.
The list goes on. Chris Sale missed 10 starts with broken ribs. Austin Riley, Sean Murphy, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Joe Jiménez all missed extended time.
And then the underperformers. Also plenty of them. Before salvaging his season after the All-Star break, Michael Harris II was the worst qualified hitter in baseball. Ozzie Albies was right there with him. Even closer Raisel Iglesias couldn’t get anyone out for the first two months of the season (6.30 ERA in April and 6.10 ERA in May).
There were several embarrassing moments, from losing seven in a row to open the season, to blowing a 10-4 ninth-inning lead to the Diamondbacks in early June.
The good thing for the Braves is that everything about 2025 has been left in the past. Yes, there are still injuries. Schwellenbach, Smith-Shawver and Hurston Waldrep have not pitched yet this season. Regardless, the Braves are back.
The Stars Are Doing Their Jobs
The Braves have the best record in baseball at 42-20. They lead the National League in home runs with 87, and they are third in ERA behind the Brewers and Dodgers (3.16).
There are various reasons why this iteration of the Braves looks a lot like the 2023 team. Matt Olson is raking. Drake Baldwin was an MVP candidate before going on the IL with an oblique injury. Chris Sale’s numbers are right up there with the best pitchers in all of baseball.
It also helps that Ronald Acuña Jr. has caught fire. At the end of May, he hit five home runs in his last four games. Over this stretch, his OPS climbed from .695 to .821. Not a bad weekend for the 2023 NL MVP.
Walt Weiss also deserves credit for the job he’s done. Not many people expected the Braves to stay in-house after Brian Snitker retired, but Weiss has pushed all the right buttons and has a great relationship with the players.
The Fantastic Four
So many people deserve credit on this Braves team, but the unsung heroes deserve all the praise in the world. Dominic Smith and Martín Pérez were not expected to make the club out of spring training. Jorge Mateo and Bryce Elder were not expected to have important roles either.
The depth of this Braves team has been the difference maker so far this season. In Smith’s first start as a Brave, he hit a walk-off grand slam. He hasn’t slowed down since, slashing, .317/.353/.484 in 137 PA. The only reason Smith broke camp with the Braves was because of Jurickson Profar’s season-long PED suspension.
Mateo battled injuries last year in Baltimore and put up a 36 OPS+ in 83 plate appearances. He signed a $1 million contract with the Braves shortly after Ha-Seong Kim slipped on ice in Korea, and it has been one of the best moves Braves GM Alex Anthopolous made all winter.
Mateo has stepped up in a big way, carrying a 136 wRC+. Nobody expects him to sustain this for four more months, but Mateo has arguably already given the Braves more production than anyone expected (0.9 fWAR)
Pérez and Elder are a pair of old-school pitchers. Neither lights up the radar gun nor has electric stuff. Still, both have been vital to the Braves’ pitching staff in different ways.
Pérez has performed both as a starter and reliever. He’s currently back in the rotation, and he has started eight games and has come out of the bullpen for four. He has a 2.79 ERA, proving he can still produce at 35 years old.
Nobody knows what to make of Elder, but he’s been perhaps the most surprising player for the Braves. He was great in the first half of 2023, but one of the worst pitchers in MLB since the 2023 All-Star Game.
2026 has been much kinder to Elder. Through 13 starts, he has a 2.63 ERA. His ERA was below 2.00 before his last start in May against the Red Sox, where he was hit hard.
The more advanced numbers are impressive as well. Elder’s FIP is 3.34. His new cutter that he learned from Greg Maddux in the offseason has paid dividends.
The quartet of Smith, Mateo, Pérez, and Elder aren’t the only guys who have stepped up. Mauricio Dubón also deserves a ton of credit. He’s played excellent defense at both shortstop and left field.
Everyone Else
Michael Harris II is having a bounce-back season and is finally looking like the player everyone expected him to be after he won Rookie of the Year in 2022. Ozzie Albies has also bounced back from a down 2025 campaign.
By ERA, the Braves’ bullpen has been the best in the league, even better than the Padres. There isn’t a better 7-8-9 combo than Dylan Lee (1.26 ERA), Robert Suarez (0.65 ERA), and Raisel Iglesias (0.96 ERA). When the Braves lead after six innings, good luck trying to come back when their big three are all available.
This lineup will continue to hit. It’s going to get Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy back soon, and Austin Riley and Ha-Seong Kim are better than they have been so far.
The bullpen will also continue to produce. There’s solid depth outside of the top three arms, with Tyler Kinley (3.38 ERA) and 20-year-old Didier Fuentes (2.78 ERA, 1.37 ERA as RP).
My biggest question with the Braves going forward is the rotation. Sale is a stud, but everyone else has big question marks. Spencer Strider has been inconsistent through six starts. Grant Holmes has been solid, but he’s not a guy any Braves fan would want in a playoff rotation. Despite their success so far, the same could be said for Pérez and Elder.
The good news for Atlanta is that reinforcements are on the way. Waldrep (2.88 ERA in 10 games in 2025) should be back in the majors by the end of June. Schwellenbach and Smith-Shawver have less of an exact timeline, but there is optimism that both will pitch this season.
Looking Forward
I don’t think it is going to happen, but it is not unheard of for a team to miss the playoffs after a blazing-hot start. Just last year, the Mets were 45-24 on June 12, before finishing the season 38-55. MLB is unpredictable, and different things happen every year. Last year, the Tigers led the AL Central by 10.5 games before finishing 7-17 and giving the division to the Guardians.
That said, the Braves have dropped just two series all season. I’m not sure if they will keep winning at their current pace and finish 110-52, but I don’t think they’re in danger of collapsing like the Mets did last season. Thanks to the stars being stars and depth pieces stepping up, Braves fans are enjoying 2026 much more than 2025.
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Will Benton is on a journey going to all 30 stadiums in 50 days. He played college football for 5 seasons at SMU and 1 season…