2025 Atlanta Braves season thread

[LD84]

Does we still have any Braves fans here besides myself?

This will be an interesting season for Atlanta. Since their 2021 title, they have had great regular seasons and then postseason disappointment.

101 wins and then 104 wins in 2022 and 2023.
Only to lose to Philadelphia in the NLDS twice.

Then 2024 was a nightmare season with injuries. Their best pitcher and MVP winning outfielder go out early with season ending injury.

A lot of other injuries to players like Harris, Murphy, Riley, and Albies.

And many of those players had career low years.

The team still won 89 games due in large part to their NL best pitching.
A far cry from previous seasons where they broke offensive records.

Sale won the Cy Young and deservedly so.
But it was his first healthy season since 2017
Are we getting that again? He is now 36 (on March 30th)

Are we going to get another good season from Lopez? He showed some flashes in Chicago. But at age 30, he finally show a good season from start to finish.
Are we going to get that again?

On the offensive side. Ozuna carried massive weight for us (and I am not just talking about his actual physical build)
He was a top 5 MVP finisher and many games was the sole source of offense.
He went from almost being DFA'd in May of 2023 to MVP candidate.
Can we get that again in his contract year?

Other moves did not really bear fruit. Kelenic had early promise but then fell back to earth.
But he is 25, only being paid 2.3 million and we have up nothing to Seattle for him.
And there was an offseason spree on corner OFs in case he slumps again.

Profrar seems to be over his ST wrist injury and ready for opening day.
But he has had one good season and is now 32 years old.

We lost a lot of pitchers over the last few seasons. Can we replace them?
Will our top 5 (or 3 depending on what you look at) hold up again?

Will Albies, Harris, Riley and Olson bounce back after down years?

So many questions for 2025.
One bright spot is that is seems as if Strider is on pace to come back in mid to late April assuming no set backs.
He was healed and recovered sooner than expected.

Acuna is expected back by mid to late May. His recovery has been much been right on schedule.

My worry there is that the last time he came back from an ACL repair, he did not look like himself that first season.
He then won the MVP the next season. So there is a chance he bounces back either 2025 or 2026.

They are returning him slower than in 2022, so maybe he gets back to form in 2025.

But two ACL surgeries are scary for a 27 year old. There has to be worries about his speed and outfield range at this point.
But his bat is where he is most depended upon. If he can still hit, we can worry less about stolen bases and range in right field.

But the outfield is a bit of a mess without him. I hope it can be held down until he returns.
We need a strong start from Harris, and we need one of the left fielders to break out and have a good 2025.

Most projections I see have Atlanta between 88-96 wins.

96 feels a bit high. I can see between 89-93 wins.
But as I laid out (and is true of every team) there are so many question marks.

I think they will be in contention for the NL East but not run away with it.
If not that, then I think they have a 90%+ chance of making one of the wild card spots.

Unless the have a season from hell even worse than last season.

Finally, this team is getting older. It is no longer the young team from the early 2020's
They have trade some of their youth away for win now pieces. Their farm system is bottom 5 per most sources. They have gutted it again for win now pieces.
And those top players they had towards the end of the 2010s and early 2020s are now in the MLB.

Their only piece of note is Drake Baldwin who could prove to be an important piece at catcher.

With Murphy having a fractured rib and out for at least the first week of the season.
Baldwin and Tromp will have to hold down the catcher spot.
This is a far cry from when the Braves for 3-4 years in a row had the best catcher platoon in the MLB. But they let William Contreras go for Sean Murphy (this may of worked out for both sides, but Contreras is three years younger)
d'Arnaud was a good platoon player for the past two seasons, but is now 36 and we declining. The Angels will see if they can get anything from him now.

A lot rides on Baldwin. Unless he is just terrible, I would hope that when Murphy comes back, he and Baldwin split time the season of the season.




Sorry for the novel length post. But I wanted to get my thoughts out there before the season starts tomorrow.
And maybe we have 1 or 2 other fans on this board who will chip in as the season progresses.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by LD84

Does we still have any Braves fans here besides myself?

I can't say that I am. However, if you keep posting, I will follow along and "haunt" your thread, occasionally posting my witticisms (ahem) as I do with the Mets thread, to their chagrin. I am also looking at the Tigers thread with the same evil intentions.

Look, I am a Yankees fan. I used to "run" a Yankees thread but I got tired of the knee-jerk hostility. Braves and Tigers fans don't have that handicap. The Mets are not in that category, either, but they are trending in that direction. Forget about a Dodgers thread these days.

So I can lurk and enjoy these threads of others here. They pique my interest in the subject teams and in baseball in general. I will contribute where I can and may even root for these teams as long as they don't play the Yankees.

[Déjà Bru]

To wit, CBS Sports poses this as the One Big Question for the Atlanta Braves: "How long does it take for Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña to make an impact?"

Strider is, by all accounts, ahead of Acuña, having actually pitched in a couple of spring games, where his velocity was down a couple mph but he still got 10 strikeouts in just four innings of work. Strider is likely on a mid-April timetable, but I'm assuming he'll be at least somewhat limited to start – which means he may not really be a viable starter for Fantasy until May. The upside is high, but I'm less convinced than most that he's going to be a huge difference maker for Fantasy.

And Acuña is an even bigger question mark. We basically heard nothing about his progress this spring as he works his way back from his second torn ACL. We're expecting a May return from Acuña, though whether it'll be in the beginning of the month or more toward the middle remains very much unclear – one thing we do know is that Acuña isn't planning to run quite as much this time. If he hits like he did in 2023, he can still be an elite Fantasy option with 30 steals, but he struggled as a hitter in the seasons surrounding that one, so we really don't know what to expect there.

[LD84]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

To wit, CBS Sports poses this as the One Big Question for the Atlanta Braves: "How long does it take for Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña to make an impact?"

Acuna was a batter and hit in games in the minor league camp. But since they are much more flexible in those games, he was exempted from running the bases or fielding.

So basically he would hit, a pinch runner would take his spot. And he could later return to hit again.

They are saving running and fielding for when his knee gets stronger. I think they are wanting him to get that knee stronger than in 2022 and have him come back in a better shape and hopefully be able to make more of an impact this season.

[CONN CHRIS]

Acuna is one of those players that MLB needs to have on the field. Hope he fully heals.

[Amazin69]

KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!!!!!!

Er, sorry. Reflex.

Best wishes to my "local" (193.6 miles) team and its fans. (Within reason, of course.)

[ForeverRoyalKC]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Acuna is one of those players that MLB needs to have on the field. Hope he fully heals.

I second this! Acuna is a great and fun player.

[Déjà Bru]

I noticed this in the recap of today's Braves-Padres game:

Jurickson Profar got a standing ovation before his leadoff single for Atlanta. Profar spent parts of the past five seasons with San Diego, and he had the best year of his career in 2024 with 24 homers and 85 RBIs before signing with Atlanta in January.

Rather unusual for these days, no? This might occur if the player had been traded, not leaving on his own in free agency. Usually he gets booed for that.

Profar showed real class in his farewell, but I doubt that was sufficient. Are Padres fans that nice?

[LD84]

Very rough start to the season. The hope is they can salvage one in San Diego before continuing to Los Angeles and the Dodgers.

The bullpen was the issue the first two games. And today they simply could not score any runs.

Slow starts have been common in seasons past. Hopefully they can shake off the spring malaise and get it going.

[LD84]

Well this is about as bad of a start as could happen outside of losing a key player to injury.

Runs are not being scored, and the bullpen is giving up too many runs. I think this is the kind of stuff that leads other fan bases towards the bottle.

[Déjà Bru]

Hey! Lay off that bottle. There's another 158 games to go.

However, sports media, needing something to write about, will go ahead in discussing at this early stage, "How concerned should MLB's four winless teams be? Checking the panic meter on Braves, Tigers and others"

Of course, to avoid looking ridiculous, they qualify their points with this:

Baseball differs from other sports in how much a three- or four-game losing streak to begin the season matters. The reality is that it's not always a code red situation. In fact, at this time last year, the New York Mets were 0-4; they went on to make the National League Championship Series. In 2023, the Philadelphia Phillies started 0-4; they won 90 games and similarly lost in the NLCS. And so on. We won't go so far as to write that an 0-3 or 0-4 start is just part of the natural ebb and flow of the season, but we believe there's enough recent precedent to recognize that all hope is not lost for these clubs.

Gee, thanks.

Still, they say,

Atlanta Braves

Record: 0-4 (swept by San Diego Padres)

Run differential: Minus-10

The Braves are coming off a season full of injuries and offensive underperformance. Unfortunately for Atlanta, a defensible preseason pick to win at least the National League East, the opening series against the Padres was more of the same. The Braves offense ranks 29th in wRC+ after being shut out in consecutive games. As a result, they scored all of seven runs across their first four contests. The good news for the Braves is that this slump won't last, and that eventually ace Spencer Strider and franchise player Ronald Acuña Jr. will return from the shelf. The bad news is that, at least in the immediate future, things might get worse: they begin a three-game set versus the Dodgers on Monday night.

Concern level: Low

Got that? Low! Now sweep the Dodgers and you're back in business!

[LD84]

Well this is going to explain a lot

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...-ped-violation

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by LD84

Well this is going to explain a lot

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...-ped-violation

Oh, wow. This development comes after the article that I posted, for sure. The "Concern level" must advance from "Low" to at least "Moderate" with this news.

[LD84]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Hey! Lay off that bottle. There's another 158 games to go.

However, sports media, needing something to write about, will go ahead in discussing at this early stage, "How concerned should MLB's four winless teams be? Checking the panic meter on Braves, Tigers and others"

Of course, to avoid looking ridiculous, they qualify their points with this:
Gee, thanks.

Still, they say,
Got that? Low! Now sweep the Dodgers and you're back in business!

With their #2 pitcher going to the IL, my concern level is rising.

[LD84]

Concern level is rising quickly. No team that started 0-7 has ever made the playoffs.

[Déjà Bru]

Well, your guys finally broke out in a big way tonight. They just had to find the right team to play.

[LD84]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Well, your guys finally broke out in a big way tonight. They just had to find the right team to play.

Yes, they just needed a win. But scoring 10 runs and having almost every player contribute was even more needed.

Now they need to rattle off about 9 more in a row and hope to end April still in the NL East picture.

[Déjà Bru]

This morning, you have twice as many wins as you did before!

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

This morning, you have twice as many wins as you did before!

Meant to be humorous in a commiserating manner, not condescending. I had yet another example today of someone misinterpreting my attempts to be funny.

[LD84]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

This morning, you have twice as many wins as you did before!

We need as many in a row as possible to try and climb back into this season.

Finishing April at .500 I think would be a nice goal with the hole they got themselves into.

Murphy came back from a broken rib injury and provided some offense.
But Sale did not look all that great, and more worryingly, his velocity was down as was his spin rate.

But at this point, I will choose to focus on the win and hope Sale is still getting into pitching shape from the offseason.

If they can stay healthy, then reinforcements are on the way.

But that 0-7 start just badly put them behind to start the new campaign.