Braves: 3 reasons fans should panic, 3 reasons they shouldn’t

Freak out: How on earth will the Braves replace Freddie Freeman’s leadership?

For all those seamheads out there who claim to watch every pitch of Braves baseball on TBS every single night, this is what they will always come back to: How on earth could the Braves possibly replace the leadership lost by Freddie Freeman? Admittedly, filling this leadership void was never going to be easy, but like all of us, Freeman is human. Humans aren’t perfect and can be replaced.

Surely, it will be some combination of Dansby Swanson and Travis d’Arnaud keeping that leadership seat warm until Austin Riley is ready to take over that face of the franchise role. On paper, Atlanta has too much talent and too many good guys for this to be a problem. However, a leadership void could be the reason why the Braves don’t repeat, or miss the postseason entirely.

This is why playing better baseball before the All-Star break is so paramount for this year’s team.

Chill out: This team was below .500 until August last season and won it all

The past is the best indicator of future success. Only a year ago did the Braves play middling baseball up until August. General manager Alex Anthopoulos made a flurry of trades in late July, this team caught fire and the rest is history. Not to say the 2022 Braves will follow the same path as the 2021 Braves, but the bulk of the championship group is intact. They know what it will take.

Even if the Braves are looking up at the Mets, no team is more prone to shoot itself in the foot repeatedly than New York. The Nationals absolutely stink. Though the Philadelphia Phillies may be interesting, they have the longest active playoff drought in the NL for a reason. As for the Fish, the Miami Marlins have never won a division title in their entire existence as a professional franchise.

Not until the Braves prove to be hot garbage during the dog days of summer should panic ensue.