The Atlanta Braves suck. To be honest, the sentence above should be the entire column, but I need more words to vent.
Again, the Atlanta Braves suck. Fire Brian Snitker. Fire Alex Anthopoulos.
I still don’t feel better. It’s been a frustrating season, to say the least. Heck, even the 2024 season was beyond awful.
After last Thursday’s debacle against the Arizona Diamondbacks, when the Braves surrendered seven runs in the top of the ninth inning, blowing a 10-4 lead and losing 11-10, I declared that I was done.
However, it was Snitker’s postgame message after that heartbreaking loss that pulled me back in.
“We’re a good team. We’re not a bad team,” Snitker said. “We’re a good team that’s playing bad right now.”
I had faith that the Braves would snap out of it and at least win the series against the San Francisco Giants this past weekend, but boy, I was totally wrong. They were swept, with every game being decided by a single run. It was beyond frustrating watching them struggle like that again.
Entering this week, the Braves were 9-19 overall in games decided by a run or less, which is sad.
There are numerous glaring problems, and I don’t even know where to start, but I will try my best.
As the week began, the Braves were one of seven teams out of 30 that hadn’t reached 30 wins.
The Braves are middle-of-the-pack or worse in most offensive categories, including home runs, hits, on-base percentage, and batting average. They are also wildly inconsistent on the basepath, leaving about 3.8 runners in scoring position per game. Strikeouts are also a huge problem for them.
Ozzie Albies, Michael Harris II, Austin Riley, Matt Olson, and Marcel Ozuna aren’t consistently performing well at the plate. And don’t even get me started on Sean Murphy, Nick Allen, and Eli White.
The only bright spots for the offense have been Drake Baldwin and the return of Ronald Acuna Jr.
Starting pitching is solid, but also hanging by a thread with the injuries to AJ Smith-Shawver and Reynaldo Lopez. It’s excellent that Spencer Strider is back from injury, but he hasn’t been himself lately.
The bullpen has also struggled, especially when a bum like closer Raisel Iglesias is called to the mound. He’s blown several saves by throwing beach balls for the other team to knock out of the park.
Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, and, of all people, Bryce Elder, have been keeping the team in games. However, when the offense can’t hit, and the bullpen blows leads, it leads to losses.
The team also lacks what Kirby Smart preaches: fire, passion, and energy. It seems like Brian Snitker is asleep in the dugout most of the time. There is no leadership from any player in the clubhouse.
Alex Anthopoulos also didn’t do anything in the offseason to address the team’s glaring roster holes. He could’ve been limited by the ownership group, which I think is keeping its checkbooks tight.
Either way, bringing back Ian Anderson, Jesse Chavez, Eddie Rosario, and Craig Kimbrel, who are all re-treads, hasn’t worked. I feel like the organization has been doing that strategy for a long time.
To start the week, the Braves were 27-37 overall, 14 games behind the first-place Mets in the NL East. They have lost nine straight games and seven consecutive series. They’re on a downward spiral.
Snitker and Anthopoulos, you don’t have a good team, and someone needs to be held accountable. I don’t think the team can recover, so for goodness' sake, just please, cancel the season.