Before this season started (and even before the Postseason started) the big question concerning this 2026 Atlanta Braves team was whether or not they would have enough pitching (particularly in the rotation) in order to find a way to be successful.
94 wins, an NL East title, a Wild Card Series win and a Divisional Series exit later, we now have the answer: Yes, they had enough pitching. Even when the rotation was strained to its very limits like they were during the Postseason, there were no terrible
blow-ups during this run. Chris Sale gave it all he had, Tyler Mahle performed admirably and the bullpen was about as good as you could ask them to be without being just straight-up perfect.
Instead, the autopsy for the 2026 Braves will reveal that at the end of the day, a good ol’ fashioned lack of hitting is what eventually doomed the Braves. Now granted, it’s pretty tough to go through the crazy boss rush of starting pitchers that Atlanta had to deal with across both the Wild Card and the Divisional Series and expect them to just turn it on like the ‘27 Yankees but it’s also rough to see this team go out like they did at the plate.
Key pieces of the core of Atlanta’s lineup had an absolute nightmare in this series. Austin Riley went 0-for-13 with six strikeouts. Drake Baldwin went 1-for-14 with five strikeouts. Matt Olson went 2-for-16 with six strikeouts. Ronald Acuña Jr. went 2-for-15 with four strikeouts. Sure, the Dodgers have an absolute conveyor belt of strong pitching but plain-and-simply, that won’t cut it in the Postseason.
“The Dodgers have something to do with that. They’re going for their third straight world championship for a reason. Their arms just keep coming at you,” stated Walt Weiss when he was asked about the lack of hitting during this series in particular. “…You have a lot of unsung heroes a lot of times in the postseason, and sometimes guys struggle. It’s obviously magnified because you’re playing under a microscope. But I think that we struggled with runners in scoring position. So did the Dodgers. The games were really tight. I thought we gave them all they could handle. But it’s a good team over there.”
Usually any type of struggles of hitting with runners in scoring position is overblown and you could’ve argued that too, as Weiss did mention that the Dodgers had a tough time hitting with RISP, themselves. With that being said, 0-for-23 with RISP is not going to cut it. Two of the RBI that Atlanta had in this series came from the Dodgers basically donating it via pitches that went awry while the Braves had a runner on third. The clutch hitting (particularly in the latter innings) just wasn’t there for Atlanta in this series and it ended up playing a major role in what sent them into the cold and especially uncertain offseason coming up.
With that being said, it’s hard to call this season anything other than a solid success. Again, they won 94 games (in weird fashion but still) and won the division. Any time a blue flag goes up on the light tower outside of the seats in right-center, it’s a solid season and one you take to the bank. The pain and disappointment is certainly palpable but some perspective from the disappointment reveals that this isn’t a season that the Braves should just flush away — definitely not like the train wreck that was the 2025 season.
“Of course [we’re] disappointed,” said Weiss when he was asked about the tough ending to the season. “You always are when you’re not the last team standing. There’s only one team that goes home happy at the end of the year.”
“But I’ve talked about how proud I am of this group all year. And that doesn’t change,” continued Weiss. “It’s a privilege to manage this group. And the way they compete and the way they pull for one another, the things that we overcame this year, I mean, really impressive. And it’s because of the guys in that room. It was a privilege to manage those guys.”
I asked Weiss about what he could take away from his first season back at the helm of a big league ballclub and he was reflective on how things went. “It was great. It was a lot of fun for me. Everything that we went through, and we basically went wire to wire to win the division. And I always say that’s the toughest one to win because it takes six months,” explained Weiss.
“Now it’s the ones in the postseason that are more special when you win those. But winning a division is tough to do, and we basically went wire-to-wire. A lot to feel good about. You don’t ever feel good about losing. Like I said, there’s only one team, when the season’s all said and done, that’s happy. There’s only one out of 30.”
Indeed, that type of perspective is crucial when it comes to baseball and it’s a small comfort to take with you as another long season comes to a close. With the offseason locking as uncertain as ever, it’s very important to take stock of the good just as much as it is to address the bad. There are going to be a lot of questions about the core of this team (particularly in the lineup) but at the same time, it’s been exciting to see a revelatory season from Michael Harris II and it was certainly encouraging to see him continue that into the Postseason.
The end of the season always stinks (especially with what awaits the baseball world this Winter) but the Braves can at least take it on to the house knowing that this ended in October with a divisional title instead of September with a completely lost season. The wait for another World Series title continues for another season and now it’s on Alex Anthopoulos and Atlanta’s front office to figure out a way to fix what ended up ailing this team in October. We’ll see what happens, y’all.
