ESPN on what must change for the Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves sit on the outside looking in of the National League playoff picture after what can only be described as a tiring start to the 2025 campaign.

It feels like the club has experienced the trials and tribulations of an entire 162-game season, rather than just about a month. Before the season even began, Sean Murphy took a fastball to the ribs, and right after Opening Day, the club’s only notable offseason acquisition, Jurickson Profar, was popped for PED use.

Over the next few weeks, the Braves would lose Reynaldo Lopez and Spencer Strider to the injured list, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Brian Snitker would steal headlines with clubhouse drama, and seemingly one facet of the team would fail in each loss.

Despite all of that, the Braves still sit just a couple of games under .500 with several very winnable series coming up. It’s hard to be optimistic, but I think there’s one big reason to be, as ESPN’s Bradford Doolitte points out.

“An 0-7 start threatened to sink the Braves’ season before it began. They recovered — nearly climbing to .500 at one point — but they have a lot of work to do. Hopes that the Braves can still reach their ceiling hinge on the longed-for returns of Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. In the meantime, they need underperforming stalwarts such as Matt Olson, Michael Harris II, Chris Sale and Raisel Iglesias to hit their stride. Atlanta can’t keep plodding along under .500 in this year’s NL while waiting for its stars to get healthy, but if the Braves can stay above water until then, they might be able to really take off. Considering what we’ve seen so far, the fact that they won’t see the Dodgers again during the regular season certainly helps.”

The returns of Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuna Jr. cannot come soon enough. The hope is that the former will stabilize the rotation, and the latter will take a good offense to championship-caliber.

However, more than that, the Braves need to avoid another injury. The depth across the board is razor thin. It’s not necessarily something the club can control, but as we saw last year, injuries can completely derail a season.

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Photo: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire

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