In the midst of their current losing streak, the Atlanta Braves feel like they are inventing ways to lose baseball games. The suddenly quiet offense was the biggest culprit during Atlanta's ugly series up in Minnesota. Still, even when the offense roared back to tie the game on Wednesday afternoon, an overworked bullpen gave the lead right back to the Twins.
With recent struggles from Raisel Iglesias, Didier Fuentes, and Dylan Dodd, you can see how the bullpen is beginning to show cracks. This development makes all the more sense when you realize Atlanta has not gotten length from their starters outside of Chris Sale and their newest acquisition, Tyler Mahle.
Additionally, the front office seems to have a strong desire to run a six-man rotation, something manager Walt Weiss has pointed out as problematic, as it forces him to operate a man down in the bullpen on a nightly basis. With the bullpen struggling, it seems the six-man rotation decision is coming back to haunt the Braves at the absolute worst time.
KODY...AGAIN!!!! pic.twitter.com/ynXX38XFqA
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 19, 2026
Braves' recent bullpen struggles can be attributed to flawed six-man rotation approach
The six-man rotation is here to stay, and the one-for-one swap of AJ Smith-Shawver for Tyler Kinley was only further proof of that. Atlanta's unwillingness to shift AJSS, Grant Holmes, Martin Perez, or even Bryce Elder to the bullpen means they are comfortable operating a man down in the bullpen. Unfortunately, that strategy is coming back to bite the Braves pretty harshly this month.
In August, the Braves' relievers have the 19th-ranked ERA (4.22) in all of baseball. What's even scarier is the fact that Atlanta's bullpen FIP of 4.98 and xFIP of 4.83 rank 26th and 25th, respectively. All-Star Raisel Iglesias is having his worst month of the season in August, and 21-year-old Didier Fuentes has given up runs in three of his last five outings.
Operating without an extra bullpen arm means you are asking too much from the group of available bullpen arms, and without Robert Suarez, many arms are pitching in situations they have no business being in. The philosophy of resting Chris Sale an extra day and limiting the innings of an arm returning from injury (AJ Smith-Shawver) is fine, but the Braves are not in a position to practice this method. Unfortunately, the result has been some bullpen blowups in August and a lot of ugly losses that Atlanta was not experiencing earlier in the season.
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