Bad-News Braves Can’t Even Beat The Bad Teams

By Dan Schlossberg

In baseball, the way to sew up a pennant is to beat the bad teams and play .500 against the contenders.

Apparently, the Atlanta Braves forgot that time-tested adage.

All of a sudden, they’re easy prey for the Washington Nationals, the team universally picked to finish last in the National League East.

After losing six of their eight games against the Nats this season, however, the Braves are actually closer to third-place Washington than they are to first-place Philadelphia.

When the week started, Atlanta owned a record of 35-28, a winning percentage of .556, and a second-place standing (nine games behind) that is shrinking more quickly than Tom Hanks in Big.

Washington was 30-35, 15 games behind, but just six behind Atlanta after winning three times in four-game sets on consecutive weekends.

With his team bedeviled by injuries, Braves manager Brian Snitker will have a tough time extending his six-year division title streak.Photo byDan Schlossberg

For the Braves, who started the season as prohibitive favorites to extend their best-in-baseball streak of six straight division titles, Murphy’s Law has enveloped the ballclub. And we don’t mean two-time MVP Dale Murphy, the would-be Hall of Famer whose continued exclusion from Cooperstown remains an agonizing oversight.

Aside from rejuvenated DH Marcell Ozuna, who has taken over the coveted three-hole in the batting order, the entire lineup is not just cold but frigid.

None of the eight Atlanta All-Stars sent to Seattle last summer is holding his head above the ice.

Catcher Sean Murphy suffered an oblique injury Opening Day, missed the first two months, and seems lost at the plate since returning.

The entire infield of Austin Riley, Orlando Arcia, Ozzie Albies, and Matt Olson is fumbling in the field and embarrassing themselves at the plate, flailing to reach pitches well out of the strike zone, rarely walking, and producing only sporadic power.

Outfielders Adam Duvall, Michael Harris II, and Jarred Kelenic aren’t much better. Nor was defending MVP Ronald Acuna, Jr., whose knee problems cost him two weeks of spring training and culminated in a torn ACL — ending his season early for the second time in four years.

Losing the leadoff man, who was coming off the only 40/70 season in baseball history, hurt. But losing center-fielder Michael Harris II and star pitcher Spencer Strider hurt more.

Harris, a Gold Glove contender, suffered a hamstring injury running the bases last night and has been placed on the 10-day IL, likely to be replaced by former Oakland standout Ramón Laureano, who’s been tearing it up for Triple-A Gwinnett after starting the season in a funk for Cleveland.

Strider’s 20 wins and 281 strikeouts led both leagues last year and he looked even better during the spring after unveiling a baffling breaking pitch that had batters totally off-balance.

Two starts into the season, however, his right arm started barking — forcing him to the injured list for the duration after an elbow brace procedure.

While remaining starters Max Fried, Chris Sale, and Reynaldo Lopez have all pitched their way into serious All-Star consideration, Charlie Morton has thrown like the 40-year-old he is, looking especially bad against Washington for reasons unknown.

Worried about keeping their top starters sharp all season, manager Brian Snitker has given them extra rest, trying to fill the gap with a parade of Not Ready For Prime Time Players.

The Braves have received less than a handful of solid starts from a revolving fill-in corps that has included Bryce Elder, Ray Kerr, Spencer Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawver, Darius Vines, Hurston Waldrep, and Allan Winans. Never mind that Elder was an All-Star last year or that all of the others arrived with enormous expectations (which turned out to be little more than hype).

It won’t be long before the Braves again give the ball to Jesse Chavez, along with Morton the National League’s other 40-year-old pitcher (only American Leaguer Justin Verlander, 41, is older). The bespectacled Chavez, serving as a long man in the Braves pen, throws strikes and gets outs, as his record entering the week shows (1-1, 1.37 in 20 games and 26 1/3 innings) indicates.

Righting the ship won’t be easy. It’s not age — Olson is the oldest regular at 30 — or money — every key position player has a comfortable long-term contract.

Could it be complacency?

The 2023 Braves led the majors in wins (104), home runs (307), and slugging (.501), sharing and setting major-league marks in the last two categories. Five players topped 30 homers and three (Olson, Ozuna, and Acuna) topped 40, a feat originally accomplished by the Braves trio of Hank Aaron, Davey Johnson, and Darrell Evans in 1973.

Maybe it’s time to retool, recalling fleet outfielder Forrest Wall from Gwinnett, putting him at the top of the lineup, and reinstalling the left-right platoon of Kelenic and Duvall in left field. Having a base-stealer at the top could change the entire offense, as Acuna proved while setting a club record in steals (73) last summer.

Snitker has stuck stubbornly to the same lineup rather than shake things up, give his regulars a breather, or change the batting order. Nor has the stoic manager held clubhouse meetings.

But he hasn’t seen his team play this poorly since he succeeded Fredi Gonzalez as interim manager in 2016.

Before the season becomes a blemish on his record, it’s time to try something radical.

Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is the author of Home Run King: the Remarkable Record of Hank Aaron and 40 other baseball books. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.