The Atlanta Braves are not a good baseball team.
Parts of Braves Country have been holding out hope this was not the case. Some baseball pundits have given the team the benefit of the doubt and expressed patience.
But having lost nine of their last 11 contests, the Braves have fallen to a season-high 11 games below the .500 mark. They ended the holiday weekend with a 2-7 homestand, including a sweep versus the last-place AL East Baltimore Orioles.
During the home stand, the Braves scored zero or one run six times. In two of those games, Atlanta didn’t score until the ninth inning.
That happened again Sunday. But MLB Network’s Jon Morosi didn’t bother to wait to see if the Braves could mount a comeback during the 2-1 loss to fire a tweet about what the team should do at the MLB trade deadline.
“Difficult to justify anything other than an outright ‘sell’ approach to the trade deadline,” wrote Morosi.
At the time of the tweet, the Braves trailed 2-0. Catcher Sean Murphy hit a homer, and the team had the trying run on base in the ninth. If the Braves got another run, then the team would have required a very different tone than Morosi’s tweet.
Would’ve, should’ve, couldn’t — the words of a bad baseball team.
After Sunday’s loss, the Braves fell to 8.5 games out of the final NL wild card spot. They are 13 games back in the division with three and a half weeks until the MLB trade deadline.
To move into playoff position, the Braves would have to pass six teams in the wild card standings.
It’s a pipe dream to believe that has a possibility of happening. The Braves have a couple more weeks to prove otherwise, but nothing suggests anything is changing with the team soon.
The Braves don’t have the consistent offense or the pitching depth with four starters on the injured list to mount a 2021-like comeback. Admitting that could be the best way for the Braves to move forward and reload for 2026.
Of course, who the organization could “sell” to try and reload for next season is another issue. Atlanta’s most obvious trade assets are either injured or not performing.
