The Atlanta Braves' dominant 8-4 win over the Blue Jays on Monday couldn't have come at a better time. The Braves had been off to a terrible start to the season and needed a game where they made a statement to the rest of the league that they were not rolling over in 2025. Mission accomplished there.
However, it is hard to ignore the big picture here. They have played better since starting the season 0-7, but the fact remains that the Braves currently sit at 5-11 on the season and dead last in the NL East. Chris Sale has struggled, Reynaldo Lopez is hurt, and the offense has been inconsistent at best. While there are some bright spots, they have been few and far between.
Despite all the reasons for skepticism surrounding this Braves team, not everyone is jumping off the bandwagon just yet. According to CBS Sports' newly released panic meter, they only have the cause for panic for the Braves at a 2 out of 5.
CBS Sports doesn't see too much cause for panic with the Braves this early in the season
While CBS Sports' Matt Snyder noted everything that has gone wrong for the Braves, he (probably correctly) noted that this is a really small sample of games we are talking about. Starting the season with a west coast road trip against two of the better teams in the league while not at full strength was really rough and, in Snyder's mind, there is no way that the Braves can keep getting so unlucky.
There are still some questions for the Braves to answer in 2025, though. Once Ronald Acuna Jr. is back, we will know exactly what this offense is capable of this year and the early returns on the rest of the lineup are a bit discouraging especially if Marcell Ozuna's injury lingers. The rotation is beat up, but Spencer Schwellenbach has been great and Atlanta is getting Spencer Strider back this week.
Snyder is right that the Braves won't be this bad the rest of the season. Even if just a couple of the players off to slow starts get rolling, they will be good enough to get a winning record. How much further they can go than that is going to be dependent on whether luck can finally start turning their way and the stars they have relied upon the last several years can start playing like stars again.