9 dumbest Braves first half moments that will have you wanting to rip your eyes out

The Atlanta Braves' 2025 season has been a disaster, to put it bluntly. Coming into the season, the club had a 92.5% chance of making the playoffs. At the All-Star break, those odds have dwindled to 3.6%.

With the first half of the season in the books and the second half starting up, it's time look at the 10 dumbest moments from the season so far to see a few reasons why a team like the Braves have fallen so far as quickly as they have.

Here are the dumbest, most infuriating moments from the 2025 Braves first half

Jurickson Profar gets paid and then immediately suspended

It took a while for the Braves to make their big move of the offseason, which left fans wondering if the front office was going to do anything at all to improve the team going into 2025.

Finally, in late January, the Braves signed Jurickson Profar. On paper, this seemed like a perfect fit, as the left fielder's patience and bat-to-ball skills would anchor the leadoff spot while Atlanta weathered the storm with Ronald Acuña Jr. coming back from his ACL injury.

Instead, four games into the season, the left fielder was suspended for PEDs. Instead of having a $43 million acquisition anchor the team, he caused another blackhole, which left Atlanta with no choice but to turn to one of the worst hitters in baseball.

Eli White makes a tee-ball level mistake

The very game Ronald Acuña Jr. announced his return with a bang, the Atlanta Braves offense disappeared. Down 2-1 in the ninth, however, the Braves looked like they had a rally starting.

Alex Verdugo led off with a single and was immediately pinch-ran for by Eli White. White advanced to second on a groundout, and with his speed, only needed a ball to the outfield to score. Ozzie Albies managed just that, but for some reason, White decided to run back to second base and was thrown out.

The game ended one batter later, and all Braves fans were left speechless how a professional player could make a mistake not even little leaguer make.

The Braves blow a game they had a 99.9% chance of winning

Looking to salvage the series against the D-Backs, the Braves offense seemingly awoke for the first time and put 10 runs on the board and had a 10-4 lead going into the 9th.

At this point, Atlanta had a 99.9% chance of winning the game. Unfortunately Scott Blewett lived up to his name and Raisel Iglesias couldn't get the last out of the inning before he lost the lead.

This would be the second of five straight one-run losses for the Braves, and it might have been the most embarassing loss of the season by any team.

Braves bring back a legend and then immediately DFA him

Immediately after this loss, the Braves decided to call up their legendary closer, Craig Kimbrel, who had been working his way back to the majors for two months at this point.

Kimbrel's first game in San Francisco was wild, but he managed to end the inning allowing no runs and striking out a batter.

The Braves, however, not done embarrassing themselves, decided that they should immediately cut Kimbrel before he had a chance to pitch in front of the Braves home crowd and turn a pitcher with even worse control issues than Kimbrel.

Matt Tuiasosopo sends Verdugo home for no reason

Not scoring runs can force desperation, but in a May game against the Red Sox, that desperation was far too aggressive.

Matt Olson lined a single to left fielder Jarren Duran, who fielded the ball before Alex Vergudo touched third base. Matt Tuiasosopo, the third base coach at the time, decided to test the left fielders arm, leading Verdugo to get thrown out by a mile.

This was one of the plays that likely cost the coach his big league position.

Alex Anthopoulos telling the world Marcell Ozuna has hip issues

In June, the Braves offense had been a massive disappointment, but one of the few players carrying their weight was Marcell Ozuna, who's new found paitence at the plate led to him having a 157 wRC+, the 11th-best in the league at the time.

What the baseball world didn't know that part of this new found patience was stemming from a hip injury, which was causing pain when Ozuna swung.

Instead of keeping that close to the chest, Alex Anthopoulos decided it would be a brilliant idea to let the entire world know one of the club's best hitters was struggling to swing the bat.

Since then, Ozuna has slashed .172/.265/.281 and has been the 11th-worst qualified hitter in baseball.

Brian Snitker falls asleep at the wheel and angers best player

Back when the Braves were still holding on to the idea that Jarred Kelenic was a big league caliber player, the lefty was still drawing starts nearly every day despite not putting up numbers that indicated he justified that role.

Against the Twins in mid-April, however, it looked like he might be turning it around. After hitting a homer in the first game of the series, Kelenic looked like he did it again, sending a deep fly towards the Chop House.

Unfortunately, this ball did not make it out of the yard, and even more unfortunately, Kelenic was gunnned down at second after not hustling out of the box.

In the past, Braves manager Brian Snitker would be quick to send a message. Snitker, however, did not pull Kelenic, leading to backlash from his own superstar right fielder, who was rehabbing from injury.

At first, Snitker tried to offer an explanation for why he didn't bench Kelenic, but he eventually revealed he just hadn't watched the play. This wouldn't be the last time he wouldn't be paying attention.

Brian Snitker falls asleep at the wheel (again) and let's young budding starter continue to throw on a torn UCL

While hitting had disappointed all season, pitching (at least up until very recently) was solid. AJ Smith-Shawver was one of the reasons why, as the 22-year-old looked to be breaking out.

Then, in his start against the Phillies, the righty was clearly bothered after a third inning pitch, but kept pitching through the at bat.

The Phillies broadcast noticed there was something wrong with the righty immediately. The Braves coaching staff was clueless until Spencer Strider alerted them a few pitches later.

Smith-Shawver was pulled, but at that point it was too late. The righty had a torn UCL and will miss the rest of the season (and most of next) recovering from Tommy John Surgery.

Braves lose ace pitcher to fluke injury

Which Braves ace did they lose to a fluke injury, you may ask? Trick question! They lost three aces this season to flukely injuries!

In April, one start after finally returning from his UCL surgery, Spencer Strider went on the IL with a hamstring strain he suffered in-between starts just tossing before a game. This injury likely set back Strider more than the month he missed, as the righty looked like a shell of his former self through his first four starts back.

In June, after nearly throwing a complete game shutout against the rival Mets, the Braves announced that Chris Sale had actually broken his rib on one of the final plays of the game and would likely miss significant time. Shortly after going on the 15-day IL, the Braves transferred him to the 60-day IL, meaning the 2024 Cy Young would miss at least two months.

With Sale out, the Braves needed to make every Spencer Schwellenbach start count, which they did by winning his next two starts. Unfortunately, the very day Jurickson Profar returned from his suspension, the Braves announced Schwellenbach also had a broken elbow. Like Sale, he'll miss at least the next two months.

By the time both Sale and Schwellenbach return, the season will be close to over, but hopefully the second half doesn't have any of the dumb moments the first half had.

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