I’ll bet you’re like me—you’re super excited for the regular season opener this Friday in Atlanta. Last season wasn’t bad. I mean, given the injuries, it’s pretty impressive that they won 89 games and made the playoffs. Still, I’m looking for much better results this season. All the preseason forecasts say the Braves are no worse than the second best team in MLB, and they may even give the Dodgers a run for the money.
I’ll admit that these last seven games of spring training don’t inspire a lot of confidence. Nine runs in six games! Really? Fortunately, we all know that spring training stats don’t mean anything. Once the games start for real in ATL on Friday, I expect the bats to wake up and rake. I assume that the guys who haven’t been hitting their weight during the last week are just experimenting with different approaches. I mean, this is the time to do that, right? If you do that stuff once the games actually count in the standings, you could fall far behind your division opponents.
I’m not sure why they decided to finish spring training out west, with a couple of games in Arizona and seven in Southern California. There must be some sort of public relations reason for that. It is a shame that the fans in San Diego and LA didn’t get to see real major league games. On the other hand, I do derive some satisfaction knowing that once the games start to count, the Dodgers almost certainly won’t look this good.
On Wednesday, in the final preseason tune-up, our Braves trotted out a lineup that included several guys who certainly won’t start once the regular season starts. De la Cruz? Allen? Fairchild (who?)? Tromp? White? It’s nice for these guys to play, but we are all pleased that we won’t have to see them when the games count. And it makes sense to start Bryce Elder in this exhibition game—don’t run the risk of injury with any of your real pitchers.
It turns out that lineup of scrubs did pretty well for themselves. They jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second. The runs were unearned thanks to a couple of Dodger errors, but crooked letters on the scoreboard were nonetheless a sight for sore eyes. Alas, that would be all our guys put on the board for the night. The Dodgers cut it to 5-3 after 4, and then finally tied it up with two in the 8th. Ohtani walked it off with a solo shot in the 9th for a 6-5 LA victory. The crowd acted as if this really mattered. I tell you, if this had been the regular season already I would probably kill myself.
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Wait….I just got a text from blog boss JonathanF. He tells me that the regular season actually started last Thursday, and that the Braves are now 0-7 for the season. I think he just played an April Fool’s joke on me. Nice try, but I don’t buy that for a minute. It’s not possible that our team, which by all accounts is the second-best team in all of baseball, could have played this poorly in real games. I’ve been a Braves fan for sixty years, and they have never started a regular season with such a pathetic offense, even in those seasons that the Braves lost over 100 games. No, I’m confident these games have just been preseason tune-ups—the real season begins this Friday in Atlanta, and that’s when the real Braves will show up.
I can’t wait! The excitement is palpable!
I saw the last half of the game last night and you know it’s bad when you have a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the 8th, men on 2nd and 3rd with two outs and your (my) first thought was “well, this game is lost”. And sure enough…..
I haven’t seen anything like this since the mid-80s Braves.
When we went up 5-0, I would’ve bet even money we would lose. We had Elder on the mound who was bound to give up runs and give way to the bullpen early. Not surprising at all.
I would point out we finally got above 24 outs. And I predict that on Friday we’ll make it all the way to 27.
The good thing about our first week is that our winning percentage is bound to increase each week for the foreseeable future. Nowhere to go but up.
That’s the kind of optimism I like to see around here, JonathanF and stampton. A few days ago commenter Our New Insect Overlords, who is one our most consistent pessimists, predicted that our guys would go 1-6 on the opening road trip. When even ONIO is too optimistic, things have gotten pretty terrible. So it’s good to find those small things to give us hope.
The sad part is that we have to rely on Elder to be semi effective until Strider gets back and with whatever happens with Lopez. That pretty much leaves AJSS in the rotation, which isn’t the worst thing. Elder’s margin for error is just so small and if opponents won’t chase outside the zone, he either walks guys or has to throw over the plate and we see what happens.
We’ve got two shortstops but I don’t think either one of them is a starter. Is Pat Rockett still under contract?
This team needs to go 90-65 (+25) the rest of the way to get to 90 wins, and even that might not be enough depending on how good the Phillies, Mets, Padres, and Diamondbacks/Giants are.
I think if we win the next few series with Miami, Philly and the Rays we will be sitting at 6-10 and feel much better about the season outlook. Going 17-7 the rest April with series against Miami, Philly, Tampa, Toronto, Minnesota, St. Louis, Arizona and Colorado is not impossible. I also don’t hate that we will have our last west coast swing (aside from a trip to the A’s and one to SF) completed by the end of April. While things look bad, if this trip happened in June we wouldn’t be as concerned.
My concern is a little less about an 0-7 start to the year…and my concern is a little more that the 2025 Braves team, as constructed, is just not real good. We’ll see as we get deeper & get a few key players back in the lineup/rotation. But still. Meh to some degree.
The 92.9 guys here in ATL were talking yesterday about how Mark DeRosa said something like how he doesn’t see the Braves team going out & playing for each other, which was commentary on the clubhouse environment and all. I can’t find the precise quote.
I don’t know. But I do know that when the Phillies beat the Braves down in that 2023 NLDS…I saw a soul-less Braves team with no punch. No fire. Like a Waffle House patty melt with no gooey cheese. Just not good.
I’m seeing a little bit of that at the start of the year. How ’bout you?
This year’s team has reminded me of that zombie version of the Braves.
I think some of us figured the lack of fire was due in part to the injuries, but you make a good point that is actually goes back a little farther. One thing this team doesn’t have is a player like Donaldson or Joc or a coach like Wash that brings some of that edge. Dansby had some of that as well, and as players like Dansby, Freddie, Fried, etc. leave, it almost looks like the team has been mourning their loses since they departed.
I think we are 100% missing Freddie and Dansby on the field and Wash on the staff. AA can be a little too analytical. Was saving that $5M per and not giving the 6th year to Freddie worth it?
I haven’t clicked away from a walk-off homer in a while, but I had a Fassbinder movie started on my DVD player before Ohtani touched home plate. (You want depressing? Oh, I’ve got depressing… subtitled/in German.)
Things gotta get better — let’s just start with a win ASAP. Flush out your headgear, fellas, the Marlins are coming to town.
Believe it or not, this isn’t the worst Atlanta Braves start to the season. In 1988, they lost their first 10 games. It’s often forgotten because the Orioles lost their first 21 that year.
But the frustration was so bad that players were openly bickering on the field. I’ll never forget a game in LA when Ozzie Virgil & Gerald Perry got into it with a young Tom Glavine telling them to cool it. As bad as this team has been, the core of that team was much worse than this bunch. For now, let’s just get a win.
I really enjoyed Black Bag, if you’re looking for a slightly less depressing Fassbender movie!
It wasn’t by any chance Ali: Fear Eats the Soul?
Wrong German, Alex!
But I’ll keep that flick in mind. 😉
Remy:
No, but I completely loved that one.
It’s “Berlin Alexanderplatz,” a 15-hour, made-for-German-TV, mini-series from 1980. (Brigitte Mira from “Ali” is in it, too.) You could say that it’s a unique balance between unfettered joy & withering misery.
Nonetheless, the relatively grim Part 13 that I just watched was way more fun than last night’s game.
“a unique balance between unfettered joy & withering misery” – sounds a little bit like being a Braves fan!
Did anybody else think that Ozuna should have scored on Olsen’s two out double in the 2nd? I got the impression on the replay he may have assumed that it was going to be caught and really wasn’t running hard until it was too late.
The question really is does Ozuna ever run hard?
Great post, tfloyd! Pure gold!
Off day transactions:
Acquired C “Jason Delay” from Pittsburgh for cash, assigned to AA
Reynaldo Lopez moved to the 60-day IL
Jesse Chavez elected free agency
I’ve been down on this org for a few years. A lot of it is because I pay for season tickets and it pisses me off to be stuck following a real estate company that isn’t truly trying to win baseball games. But it’s just one week. It’s easier to make the playoffs now than any time in history. Half the teams aren’t even trying. Just go out and hit the fastball and spit on off speed. Stop thinking and play.
Hey, we didn’t lose yesterday, so there’s a start.
Adam Ottavino was DFA’ed. I’m assuming being 0-7 means the Braves are first on the waiver wire and can get him if they wanted him? They better.
Also, did anyone pick up Neris? People were saying it’s overly reactionary to DFA him after giving him a high leverage spot two days before, but I would assume that he’s going to pass through waivers.
To be clear, I have no problem with the general strategy of hoovering up washed veterans to see if they have anything left in the tank and then stashing them at Gwinnett until the scouts say that they’re looking good. They frankly won’t be blocking anyone. I bet we’ll bring Jesse back, and I bet we’ll ease him into a roving coach role the second he retires, if he wants it. All of that stuff makes a lot of sense around the edges.
You just gotta sign some guys who all 30 teams would roster. It’s just not a good strategy to plan for guys on minor league contracts to fill major league holes!
Definitely should pick up Ottavino. He still had an FIP of 3.67 last season.
Neris already passed through waivers and elected free agency.
Yeah Ottavino would certainly be an upgrade.
Nick Allen starting again tonight. I guess he’s the shortstop now.
How much would it cost us to trade for Marcus Stroman? We really need a guy who can pitch bulk innings.
Doubt we can get him since the Yankees lost Cole and Gil to injuries. He’s their #3 starter now.
Not sure Nick Allen is an upgrade over Arcia. Arcia at least was worth positive WAR last season.
Nick spent 3 major leagues seasons trying to prove to everyone that he can’t hit, just to be ignored.
Still, he hit pretty well in the minors, and he’s at an age where he’s just about as good as he’s going to be, so I guess let’s see what happens.
I’ve got a Schwellenfront.
Cy Schwellenbach is truly something else.
Nothing 10 runs won’t cure.
IWOTM(arlins)
Recapped: https://bravesjournal.com/2025/04/04/its-finally-a-start-braves-10-marlins-0/