Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Alex Anthopoulos held onto struggling players who have since rebounded to form the core of Atlanta's historic start.
- The Braves ignored fan demands for veteran starters and developed their own rotation into the majors' best.
- Atlanta's strategic bullpen investments have transformed their relief corps from league-worst to elite.
If you didn't already think the Atlanta Braves were the favorites to represent the National League in the World Series, maybe this week's events changed your mind. Not only did the Los Angeles Dodgers split a four-game home series against the lowly San Francisco Giants, but the Braves won their series against a Chicago Cubs team that was playing as well as any in the sport before coming to Atlanta.
The Braves are now 30-14 on the year, the best record in the majors by multiple games, and that's despite getting little to no production from several of their injured stars. As good as teams like the Dodgers and Cubs are, the Braves are every bit as good, if not better, and it's thanks to these moves made by Alex Anthopoulos.
Braves never gave up on Ozzie Albies
Braves fans were fed up with Ozzie Albies, a player who performed at a superstar level in 2023 but had struggled ever since. In fact, Albies posted a career-low .707 OPS in 2024, and followed that up by posting a .671 OPS in 2025. Many executives would've given up on a player struggling this mightily, but Anthopoulos didn't, and boy, is Albies rewarding him.
Albies did go hitless in the Cubs series, to be fair, but he's still slashing .288/.340/.476 with eight home runs and 25 RBI on the year. He's been a top-five second baseman by virtually every metric, even with his recent slump, and thanks to the extension Anthopoulos signed him to years ago, he's performing at this level at a remarkably cheap $7 million salary.
Braves did not cave to rotation peer pressure
Bryce Elder was the only Braves starter to make more than 23 starts last season, and he posted a 5.30 ERA in the 28 games he started. The Braves were badly injured all year, rotation-wise, and the one constant, Elder, was unproductive. Yet, despite all that went wrong both health and depth-wise, the Braves ignored peer pressure from the fan base demanding that starting pitchers get added, and stuck with their guys. The results speak for themselves.
The Braves have a 2.96 rotation ERA, the best mark in the sport. This is the case despite Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep being on the IL all year thus far, and Spencer Strider making only two starts. The Braves have been successful thanks to the guys they've turned to.
Chris Sale is healthy and pitching to a sub-2.00 ERA. JR Ritchie has come up for the first time and while command has been an issue at times, he's been mostly awesome. Grant Holmes has struggled going deep into games, but he's been a solid back-end option. Martin Perez has been a godsend as a depth option that they signed to a minor-league deal in the offseason. We can't forget Elder, either, who also has a sub-2.00 ERA on the year and has been one of the best pitchers in the National League.
The Braves could have easily caved to peer pressure and signed a veteran like Chris Bassitt, who happens to have a 5.21 ERA on the year. They could have easily signed Lucas Giolito, a player they were linked to ad nauseam who hasn't even started a big-league game yet this year. They decided that guys like Elder and Perez were viable depth options, and so far, they've been proven very, very right.
Braves took advantage of Astros penny-pinching
The Braves made one of the savviest trades of the offseason when they acquired Mauricio Dubon from the Houston Astros in a one-for-one swap for Nick Allen. The Astros were eager to shed salary making Dubon, a player on the hook for $6.1 million this season, very expendable. The Braves willingly took on the extra cash, acquiring a better player in the process while not giving up anything additional. The results have been even better than expected for Atlanta.
While Allen remains an offensive liability, Dubon has been anything but that, slashing .256/.314/.404 on the year with three home runs and 25 RBI. He hit either first or fifth in the Braves' order during the Cubs series and even hit a big home run in the middle game.
Dubon has been an above-average hitter this season (104 OPS+), and the versatility he offers is immensely valuable. He was the Braves' primary shortstop when Ha-Seong Kim was out, he's played a lot of left field lately with Ronald Acuña Jr. sidelined, and he's even played some center field on days Michael Harris II hasn't been able to. Dubon's ability to play everywhere while hitting at an above-average clip makes him one of the most valuable utility players in the game, and the Braves got him for a player they were likely going to cut bait with anyway.
Braves signed former top prospect nobody wanted
Dominic Smith never quite met the lofty expectations that came with being a top prospect, but he was coming off a solid year with the San Francisco Giants. Despite that, Smith wasn't signed until mid-February, and he had to settle on a minor-league deal with a Braves team that already seemingly had solutions at first base and DH. Well, Jurickson Profar's suspension opened the door for Smith to make the team as their primary DH against right-handed pitching, and all Smith has done in that role is excel.
He's slashing .353/.380/.529 with four home runs and 18 RBI in 34 games and 93 plate appearances this season. The Braves have been cautious about how they deploy him, as evidenced by his total of seven at-bats against lefties and his total of zero innings in the field, but few have been better against righties this season.
Smith had a 4-for-4 game in the opener of the Cubs series and is tied for 13th in the majors with Bryce Harper among players with at least 80 plate appearances with a 170 wRC+ against righties. That mark is better than guys like James Wood, Mike Trout and even Michael Harris II. That value is pretty darn good for a player on a minor-league contract.
Braves spent big to address bullpen
The Braves ranked 19th in the majors last season with a 4.19 bullpen ERA, dropping several winnable games, particularly at the beginning of the year, thanks to their inconsistent 'pen. The Braves have gone from 19th to third this season in that statistic, posting a 3.10 bullpen ERA. That mark leads the National League, and they've blown only three saves. Their major free agency expenditures have a lot to do with that.
Player | Contract | Stats |
|---|---|---|
Raisel Iglesias | 1 year, $16 million | 12.2 IP, 0 ER, 7 SV, 15 K's |
Robert Suarez | 3 years, $45 million | 18.0 IP, 0.50 ERA, 4 SV, 5 HLD |
It's hard to get better bang for your buck than this. Raisel Iglesias and Robert Suarez have combined to allow a total of one earned run in 30.2 innings of work. They've combined to convert 11 saves in 11 tries, to go along with five holds. Essentially, whenever the Braves have a lead after seven innings on days they've both been available, the game has been over for the opposition.
Teams tend to shy away from spending big on relievers, especially older relievers like Iglesias and Suarez, but the results could not be any better than they have been thus far. The bullpen is perhaps the biggest reason why the Braves have been so good, and that's saying something.
More Atlanta Braves news and analysis:
Add us as a preferred source on Google