The Braves finally have good vibes again

Hopeless optimists may have been encouraged by the modest surge to end last season, even if it was too little, too late. For the rest of us, it’s been a long time since the Braves had that winning feeling.

I haven’t believed in the Braves since lefty Chris Sale was scratched from the 2024 playoffs. Maybe it happened for you when they briefly got their record above water last May. It’s been nothing but lots of losing and plenty of bad injury luck since then.

That’s why the 8-5 start to this season shouldn’t be taken for granted. Braves players certainly weren’t downplaying it after they followed a three-game losing streak with two wins in a row over the Angels in Anaheim.

“The hitting, the pitching, everything has been really, really good,” right-hander Grant Holmes said. “Thirteen (games in a row) out of the gate is pretty crazy. To do what we did is pretty special.”

The Braves were alone at the top of the National League East on March 29. Incredibly, that hadn’t happened since May 1, 2024. The Braves couldn’t come close to catching the Phillies after that month, and then Sale’s untimely back spasms doomed their postseason chances.

The Braves never really recovered from the 0-7 start in 2025, as injuries to pitchers piled up. They didn’t add a front-line starter during the offseason. Injuries to multiple pitchers and Jurickson Profar’s season-long PED suspension cast a cloud over the Braves before they made it out of spring training.

After so many things went wrong for nearly two years, the Braves are finally creating good vibes again. They had the division lead to begin their first day off on Thursday. It’s early, so the usual caveats about small sample sizes apply, but there are reasons to think the strong start is sustainable.

The offense is humming with 5.08 runs per game. That’s despite getting little pop from former MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. and Austin Riley.

The starting rotation has been stellar. That’s with a terrible outing from Sale and zero innings pitched from Spencer Strider. The beefed-up bullpen has been as good as advertised.

And after so much bad injury news, the Braves are close to getting healthier.

Strider (oblique) has started throwing bullpen sessions. He’s had trouble staying healthy since his stellar 2024 campaign, but Strider did make 22 starts in 2025 after returning from a hamstring injury on May 20.

Braves catcher Sean Murphy is also close to returning from injury. He’s scheduled to begin a rehabilitation assignment on Friday with Triple-A Gwinnett. Murphy will improve the position group because he’s a better defender than Drake Baldwin (the designated hitter when he’s not catching) and a better hitter than Jonah Heim.

The Braves have so far been fine with Strider and Murphy unavailable, and Acuña and Riley producing underwhelming results. Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos used most of the team’s offseason resources on the bullpen and position player depth in lieu of adding a good starter.

Those choices are paying off so far.

Anthopoulos acquired utility man Mauricio Dubón ($6 million salary) in a November trade. He’s batting .333 with two home runs and nine RBIs while playing great defense at shortstop. The Braves signed Jorge Mateo after Ha-Seong Kim suffered a hand injury in January. Mateo has three hits and a walk in 10 plate appearances (.400 on-base percentage).

In the bullpen, newcomer Robert Suarez has formed a great combo with incumbent closer Raisel Iglesias. They haven’t allowed a run over 11⅔ innings combined. Four other Braves pitchers have yet to allow a run in relief. The 0.82 ERA for the bullpen is the best in the majors.

The bullpen isn’t likely to falter. It’s a deep group. Starter Bryce Elder will come back down to earth eventually after allowing zero runs over 13 innings. The rotation still should be good enough, as long as Sale, Strider and Reynaldo López avoid long stints on the IL.

I’m not as certain about staying power for the team’s offense.

Ozzie Albies is off to a great start, but he hasn’t had a good year at the plate since 2023. Dubón and Mateo are likely to see diminishing returns with more playing time. Mike Yastrzemski has been a pretty good hitter for his career, but he’s 35 years old now, and the injured Kim is a below-average hitter.

The Braves need Acuña and Riley to get going to make up for the inevitable decline in production by others. Acuña always produces big numbers when he’s in the lineup and feeling good. Riley hoped he would get back to hitting homers this year after injuries hampered him in 2025

Riley hasn’t hit a homer in 52 plate appearances. I liked his approach during the final two days of the seven-game trip. He collected three hits against the Angels while taking easy swings and walked twice, but Riley still is just 9-for-45 (.200).

“I’m not worried about Austin,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “He’s heading in the right direction. I think when you get off to a slow start to a season, it catches a lot of people’s attention. If this happens in June, no one blinks an eye.