Going into the 2026 MLB trade deadline, fans and experts alike all agreed that if there was one glaring need the Atlanta Braves had, it was starting pitching. Aside from Chris Sale, who has put himself into Cy Young conversations again, the rest of the rotation has been questionable, at best all season long.
Unfortunately, there was one person who believed that the starting rotation was fine as is, and it happened to be the one calling the shot, Alex Anthopoulos. The Braves general manager's comments made it perfectly clear he's content with the rotation as it is, which is doomed to backfire.
Braves starting rotation doesn't stand a chance in the postseason
Anthopoulos pointed out that the Braves have the third-best starting rotation by ERA in the National League on Tuesday morning as justification for his inaction this deadline on the starting pitching front. While this is true, the gap between the Dodgers and Brewers and the Braves is quite large, with the second-best Dodgers being 0.36 runs better. Additionally, both the Brewers and Dodgers added starting pitching this deadline, with Milwaukee grabbing Dustin May, and the Dodgers adding Tarik Skubal and Kris Bubic.
The Braves' rotation has likely been also overachieving. Atlanta ranks ninth in the National League in starting pitcher FIP, and 22nd in MLB. The gap between Chris Sale's 2.46 FIP and MartÃn Pérez's 4.37 FIP, who owns the Braves second-best starter by FIP, is nearly 2 full runs. Simply put, the Braves don't stand a chance against any other contender's number two and number three starters.
The Padres added Robbie Ray and Casey Mize to back Michael King. The Brewers added Dustin May to slot behind Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison. The Cubs added Kevin Gausman to support Shota Imanaga and Matthew Boyd. The Phillies have Cristopher Sanchez, Zack Wheeler, and Jesús Luzardo. Meanwhile, the Dodgers went out and added Skubal to a start-studded starting staff.
The current Braves rotation also offers absolutely no length down the stretch. Atlanta ranks 20th in MLB in number of starts that exceeded six innings pitched. Of the 14 games this year where a Braves starter went at least 6.1 innings, five belong to Chris Sale, five belong to Bryce Elder, who has not gone 6.1 innings since June 2, and one apiece belonging to Spencer Strider, MartÃn Pérez, Grant Holmes, and JR Ritchie. Newly acquired arm Tyler Mahle has only gone more than six innings twice, and has averaged less than 5.1 innings in his starts.
So, not only did Anthopoulos fail to add an impact arm, his lack of adding any starter or notable reliever is doomed to tax the current bullpen to the brink. Considering that Robert Suarez still has not resumed throwing, this means the Braves high-leverage arms are a 36-year-old Raisel Iglesias, a 32-year-old Dylan Lee, and a 21-year-old Didier Fuentes, who are pressed into action much more than the Braves likely want.
It's hard to truly articulate how badly Anthopoulos botched this trade deadline, but his mis-assessment on the state of the rotation should have fans stewing. If the Braves get bounced in the first round of the playoffs this year because of their rotation holes, the organization might need to reassess the state of the front office.
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