Dismal Braves Offense Fails to Capitalize on Golden Opportunity

"It's still early" is suddenly the most popular phrase around the Atlanta Braves. That's because the team is off to a surprisingly terrible start.

The Braves capped off their second road trip of 2025 with a 3-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. The Braves still have yet to win two straight this season, and they shockingly lost their final two contests in Toronto.

Sure, any team can lose a baseball game on any given day. But after routing the Blue Jays 8-4 on Monday night, the Braves were set up to perhaps capture a sweep at the Rogers Center with Spencer Schwellenbach and Spencer Strider starting the final two games of the series.

Instead, the Braves dropped both behind pathetic offensive performances.

Schwellenbach didn't hold up his end of the bargain. The young right-hander gave up six earned runs Tuesday night in his worst start of the young season. But the Braves mustered only three solo homers as their offense in the 6-3 defeat.

Strangely, the Braves didn't take an at-bat Tuesday with a runner in scoring position. They might as well have done that Wednesday too. In the series finale, the Braves went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

Again, their only offense was a solo homer in the 3-1 loss.

The Braves finished the road trip scoring four runs in their last 22 innings. They now hold a 2-11 record away from Truist Park this season.

Embarassing isn't a strong enough word.

The Braves also sit eight games below .500 three weeks into the season. That's hard to comprehend.

It's inexcusable that the Braves couldn't win one of the final two in Toronto to build at least a little momentum heading into the weekend series versus the Minnesota Twins. Again, with Schwellenbach and Strider on the mound, it could have been a sweep.

Strider gave up two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and a walk in five innings Wednesday. At least he was sharp, but Strider had to accept a loss.

That's because the Braves offense struck out 19 times Wednesday. That tied a franchise record for the most strikeouts in a nine-inning game for the team's offense.

Center fielder Michael Harris II and third baseman Austin Riley accounted for eight of the 19 punchouts. First baseman Matt Olson and designated hitter Drake Baldwin had three strikeouts each (Baldwin, though, hit the solo homer).

It is still early. But that's just the nice way of saying how dreadful the Braves offense has been early in the 2025 season.