It’s March 30 and the Braves are 2-1. That may not seem like the most impressive thing until you consider that it took the Braves until April 8 of last season to pick up their second win of the season and April 10 was when they finally picked up their first series win. Folks, we will gladly take this start to the season.
Hopefully the Braves will keep going in the right direction as they wrap up their first homestand of the season before going out West for seven games. The first four games of that
seven-game West Coast swing will take place out in the desert, as Ketel Marte and the Diamondbacks will be looking to continue their first homestand of the season in winning fashion against our Braves.
Here’s a quick look at the week ahead as the Braves endeavor to get off to a much better start in 2026 than they did in 2025.
March 30-April 1: Oakland/Sacramento/Las Vegas Athletics
Current Record: 0-3 Projected Record: 78-84
The A’s certainly drew the short end of the stick when they ended up having to start their season North of the border against the reigning American League champions. It’s extremely early days but the Blue Jays have shown an indication that they’re serious about defending that crown and the A’s ended up suffering a three-game sweep during their time at the ol’ Skydome.
With that being said, it wasn’t as if the Blue Jays just completely rolled over the A’s in this one. Indeed, the green-and-gold gang led through the first four innings of the series opener and they pushed Toronto to 12 innings in the second game. A lot of that competitiveness was provided by old friend Shea Langeliers, who has gotten off to a scalding-hot start to begin this season. He’s currently got six hits (three of which are homers), three RBI and three runs scored so far. He did most of his damage during the first game of the series when he clubbed two solo dingers but he added a grand slam during the second game and also picked up another hit in the series finale on Sunday. Hopefully Atlanta’s pitching staff will be able to help cool him off once he comes down South to play his former organization.
The Braves could be in for some tough competition in terms of the starting pitching. Jacob Lopez will be starting Monday’s game and any time you see a guy getting compared to Chris Sale, it’s enough to make you pay attention to what he’s got going on. Aaron Civale ended spring training by exploding for 11 strikeouts against Seattle and while Reynaldo López may have just given everybody a reminder of how seriously you should take spring training results, that type of performance is also something to pay attention to heading into this season. Finally, the Wednesday pitching matchup figures to be Chris Sale vs. Luis Severino and that’s a matchup that could turn into a pitchers’ duel as well.
The Braves still figure to be the better team here but with guys Nick Kurtz, Lawrence Butler and old nemesis Jeff McNeil lurking, this is a team that figures to be a lot trickier to deal with than their current or projected record would indicate. I like the Braves to win this series but it’ll certainly be tough.
Game 1: Monday, March 30 at 7:15 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Game 2: Tuesday, March 31 at 7:15 p.m. ET (BravesVision, Gray TV)
Game 3: Wednesday, April 1 at 12:15 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
April 2-5: Arizona Diamondbacks
Current Record: 0-3 Projected Record: 82-80
The Braves once again have an early-season West Coast swing but I suppose that a trip through Phoenix and Anaheim surely beats having to visit Petco Park and Dodger Stadium to kick off the season like they did last year, right? Anyways, once the Braves hopefully leave town with two series wins under their belt, they’ll be flying for to the desert to square off with the Diamondbacks for four games.
This won’t be the home opener for the Diamondbacks, so the Braves won’t have to worry about an intense Postseason-like atmosphere in the regular season like they did when they started last season on the road in San Diego. With that being said, the Braves haven’t had too many issues out in the desert lately. They won the series last year and then split a four-game series back in 2024. Arizona will be happy not to see Chris Sale this time, though, as they had to deal with him in each of the past two seasons at Chase Field.
Arizona will be hosting the Tigers before the Braves come into town and they’ll also be looking to bounce back after getting swept by the Dodgers to start the season. As usual with any four-game series on the road, the Braves will be probably happy to get out of town with a split while focusing on trying to pick up a series win in Anaheim. For now, Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo and Corbin Carroll will be looking to trip up the Braves.
Game 1: Thursday, April 2 at 9:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Game 2: Friday, April 3 at 9:45 p.m. ET (Apple TV)
Game 3: Saturday, April 4 at 7:15 p.m. ET (FOX)
Game 4: Sunday, April 5 at 4:10 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
