Braves Walt Weiss Deserves a Real Manager of the Year Conversation

Last April, questions about whether the Atlanta Braves needed a change came screaming to the forefront after the team started 0-7. With one year left on his contract, discourse continued over whether Brian Snitker would retire.

Cut to the offseason, and Snitker indeed called it a career. Braves Country has nothing but love for Brian Snitker and his countless contributions to the organization across 50 years — most notably a Manager of the Year Award in 2018 and a World Series championship in 2021. It was a retirement well-earned.

But coming off a losing season, they had to name the right successor. Even when longtime bench coach Walt Weiss's name was first thrown around, it was already a good idea in theory, though it was understandable why many wanted an external hire. It could bring in a fresh perspective. But the Braves went with Walt, and it's clear it was the right call.

Weiss and his coaching staff have brought a fire back into this clubhouse that we haven't seen in a couple of seasons. Chris Sale, who already won a Cy Young in a Braves uniform, is having a career year at 37. Michael Harris II is arguably looking his best yet and Matt Olson and Drake Baldwin each generated MVP chatter at different points in the year.

Just a year after this team won 76 games, the Braves already have 92 wins with six games left to tack on. This team has shown flashes of being genuinely unbeatable.

Yes, there have been low moments too — with every peak comes a valley — but the larger point stands. This 2026 Braves team has gotten its fire back. In the early days of the Snitker era, this team was known for refusing to quit, snatching countless victories from the jaws of defeat in the late innings. I'm seeing that same identity again under Snitker's successor — a team that fights to the bitter end.

Some similar issues have arisen again from last year that could have been disastrous. On the pitching side, starting pitchers have been dealt major injuries since the start of spring training. The bullpen has been shuffled time and time again.

Weiss has some a solid job putting relievers in the right spots. He's set up the lineup in a few ways too that allowed hitters to deliver in the right spots. Those are his calls, and they've panned out more often than not.

Every team needs a manager who will fight for them, and in Weiss's case, he's taken that duty literally. On April 7, he subdued Los Angeles Angels and former Braves slugger Jorge Soler during an on-field skirmish by tackling him to the ground. Since that day, the Braves have sat in first place for 166 consecutive days, and on Sept. 20, Atlanta made sure it would stay that way for the rest of the season, clinching the NL East division crown for the seventh time in the last nine years.

There's strong competition for manager of the year, notably from Milwaukee's Pat Murphy. He has led the Brewers to their 98th win of the season on Sunday with a 3-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, setting a new franchise record. The Brewers have the best record in the National League and will likely finish the season with it. But at the very least, Weiss should and likely will be a finalist.

He deserves credit for taking a roster that, frankly, looked rudderless in 2025 and turning it back into the championship contender it was always expected to be.

As we've seen from teams like the New York Mets, talent alone isn't enough to win games. Chemistry matters. Leadership matters. And Walt Weiss is the leader the Atlanta Braves were looking for.

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