The Atlanta Braves entered the 2025 hopeful their previous season's brutal injury luck and lineup regression was an outlier type year. Unfortunately, fans quickly learned the Braves simply were no longer the mashing 2023 sluggers we came to love.
Atlanta fought their way back from a terrible 0-7 start to the season, but since they've eclipsed the .500 mark back in May things have got significantly worse. General manager Alex Anthopoulos has stood firm in his stance of wanting to improve the 2025 roster at this year's trade deadline. However, the latest slump the Braves are currently in should force Anthopoulos to pivot and finally wave the white flag on this dreadful season.
#Braves lose 3-2 to the Orioles and Charlie Morton. Atlanta has dropped six of eight games and scored just 18 runs in that span, with seven of those runs coming in one inning Wednesday against the Angels. They've totaled four runs in their past six losses.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) July 5, 2025
Anthopoulos needs to sell in 2025 and retool the Braves for 2026
No player on the Braves' roster is going to punt on the rest of the 2025 season, but now that we've passed the halfway point the math simply isn't on their side. Last season the Braves made the postseason on the final day by capturing their 89th win and holding the tiebreaker over Arizona. In order to get to 89 wins this season, Atlanta would have to go 50-25 over their final 75 games. This team playing at a near 67% winning percentage feels about as likely as Michael Harris II leading the league in walks.
After you look at the cold truth on the math, you have to consider all the teams the Braves would need to jump over the season's final three months. As it stands, five teams are above the Braves in the race for the final NL Wild Card spot. The National League is loaded and these teams aren't all going to slump because they'll at least get wins against each other. The hill is simply to big to climb.
The next reason for selling in 2025 is the disheartening injury luck to the rotation. Staff ace Chris Sale, and rising star Spencer Schwellenbach were both dealt multiple month long injuries over the past couple weeks. Grant Holmes stands as the only member left from the Opening week rotation, and every five days Atlanta is currently starting both Bryce Elder (5.92 ERA and 5.51 FIP) and a 20 year-old who clearly needs more seasoning.
The final straw is expecting this anemic offense to cover up the injured pitching staff over the rest of the season. The longer this season has gone on the more clear it's become that the 2023 Braves offense isn't walking on that field anytime soon. The bottom of the lineup has become a black hole with Ozzie Albies, Michael Harris II, and Nick Allen being three of the worst qualified hitters in baseball.
Marcell Ozuna and Austin Riley's power has seemingly vanished like the Monstars took their talent, and Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson, and whoever is catching that night simply aren't enough to mask the rest of this lineup's deficiencies. All of these reasons should give Alex Anthopoulos enough ammo to make the hard decision to sell at this year's trade deadline.
However, this doesn't mean you strip it down to the studs. The Braves can still bounce back in 2026, but they need to address a lot of things before next spring training. Anthopoulos should have the goal to acquire whatever talent he can for Marcell Ozuna, Pierce Johnson, or Raisel Iglesias by the end of July.
From there, the most AA can do with this offense in the offseason is upgrade the middle infield. Shortstop has been a negative for awhile, and Ozzie Albies sadly looks to have hit an earlier than expected career decline. Then, you're hoping guys like Michael Harris II and Austin Riley can somehow get close to their 2023 versions once again.
The other piece to the puzzle will be acquiring all the pitching depth the world has to offer. The Braves have talent in their rotation, but it's clear they need some durability. The bullpen has often been a strength in the Anthopoulos era, but this season it's employed a shaky group of pitchers. Despite his whiffs in recent years, Anthopoulos is still considered one of the best at what he does. However, this trade deadline and next offseason is a crucial time for Atlanta so let's hope AA uses these guidelines and figures out how to build a winning roster for the 2026 season.