With two straight wins over the Philadelphia Phillies over the weekend, the Atlanta Braves hoped to finally be building some positive momentum as October neared. Instead, that one step forward was immediately followed by two steps back.
It's been that kind of month so far for Walt Weiss' team, and it only got worse on Monday, when they began a pivotal series against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field with an ugly 7-3 loss that was even less competitive than that final score suggests. Atlanta is now 6-7 in September after going a combined 33-22 across July and August, with a back of the rotation that's in constant flux and a lineup that's been among the league's worst over the last few weeks.
The Braves are still on track to be hosting at least one playoff series, of course, and there's enough talent on this team to dream of a deep run. But very little of that talent is showing up on the field right now, and if that doesn't change soon, Atlanta is in for a rude awakening against the NL's elite.
2B Ozzie Albies
Atlanta would no doubt love to be able to pick up Albies' awfully affordable team option for 2027, but the veteran second baseman is making that all but impossible right now. He's slashing just .133/.184/.311 in September, dropping his OBP for the season all the way down to .300. He's almost non-viable against right-handed pitching, and yet the Braves keep on running him out as an every-day, middle-of-the-order bat.
To put it kindly, that hasn't worked out too well. Albies simply isn't that player right now, and he might never be again if you zoom out on the broader trajectory of his career. He's coming up small in far too many crucial situations that he doesn't even belong in.
3B Austin Riley
Of all the causes for concern on this Braves roster right now, Riley's continued regression might be the most concerning. He's on track for the worst wRC+ of his career after an empty 1-for-4 on Monday night, and at this point his down 2025 season seems less like an aberration and more like a potential new normal.
Which, if true, would be crushing for Atlanta's short- and long-term futures. The Braves invested a ton in Riley, over $200 million to be exact, and that contract has been a primary reason why the team hasn't been more aggressive in pursuing another impact bat either in free agency or via trade. Atlanta needs him to start producing like the player he's being paid to be, but it's fair to question whether that player is even in there anymore.
RHP Reynaldo Lopez
The Braves rotation at the moment could best be described as Chris Sale, Tyler Mahle and then cross your fingers and hope for the best. Grant Holmes and Martin Perez have had their moments and can get you through five or six reasonably competitive innings without taking you out of a game, but that's awfully hard to rely on come October. And beyond that, it's a mess — exemplified by Lopez, who laid another egg in Chicago on Monday night in his second start back from injury.
It's a lot to ask of a player who spent more than a month on the shelf, but Atlanta doesn't have much margin for error at the moment. Lopez simply isn't a playoff-caliber starter right now — heck, he's not even really an MLB-caliber starter right now — and he doesn't have much more time to knock off the rust. But do the Braves have a viable alternative? AJ Smith-Shawver debuted in a new bullpen role on Monday and didn't fare all that much better than Lopez did, while both JR Ritchie and Owen Murphy are long on potential but very short on proven big-league production.
OF Michael Harris II
The Harris II roller coaster has hit another dip, with a woeful 60 wRC+ for the month of September. He's been largely great for the Braves this year, and his defense in center field means he's always helping you win games one way or another. But his sketchy plate approach also means he's liable to blow hot and cold at a moment's notice, and Atlanta is stuck in a cold spell at the worst possible time. When the rest of the lineup is rolling, his inconsistencies aren't quite so glaring. But when everyone else is producing quick outs, it's a killer.
1B Matt Olson
This feels harsh, given how reliable Olson has been for the Braves both this season and over his time in Atlanta. But he's really going through it right now, with three more strikes out in four plate appearances on Monday night. On the heels of an August in which he posted an OBP below .300, it's fair to have some concerns about the state of his swing right now. And given the state of the Braves pitching staff and the struggles in the lineup around him, this is not a slump the team can afford.
Alex Anthopoulos
Really, you could roll every other member of this list under Anthopoulos. After all, he's the one who built the roster, and while certainly a rash of pitching injuries put him behind the 8-ball, that's not the reason why he's failed to meaningfully upgrade this lineup over the last calendar year — and it's not the reason why he let the trade deadline go by without adding an impact player anywhere.
For better or worse, this is the team Anthopoulos has hitched his wagon to. He's given big money to a lot of the hitters on this list, and very few of them are producing up to that standard. If Atlanta flames out this year, it'll be fair to ask some tough questions about his vision for the franchise moving forward given how quiet he's been of late.
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