Braves Predicted to Still Extend Playoff Streak Despite 'Rough Start'

The Atlanta Braves sit eight games below .500 as they begin the fourth week of the 2025 MLB season. The only team with a worse record in the National League is the lowly Colorado Rockies.

With Atlanta's terrible start, The Athletic's Jim Bowden proposed the question Thursday of whether the team's seven-year playoff streak will end in 2025. But Bowden argued it's an overreaction to already say that it will.

"The Braves are off to a rough start but that should have been somewhat expected because Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. started the season on the IL, they lost starting pitchers Max Fried and Charlie Morton in free agency, and another one of their best starters, Reynaldo López, had arthroscopic shoulder surgery last week. In addition, their biggest free-agent signing, Jurickson Profar, tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and received an 80-game suspension,"wrote Bowden.

"Combine that with slow starts from veteran players like first baseman Matt Olson and center fielder Michael Harris II, and it’s easy to see why they’re sitting at 5-13. However, they activated Strider from the IL on Wednesday, and Acuña isn’t far behind. This team is too deep and strong not to get back in the race and be in wild-card contention come late September.

"Remember, it’s only April 17, and they play 162 games. The Braves have made the postseason seven years in a row and I don’t see that streak ending."

Rational fans will find it easy to agree with Bowden's conclusion. There's 144 games or about 89% of the season left.

In the NFL, that's the equivalent of 15 games. So, in football terms, the Braves are essentially off to an 0-2 start.

As Atlanta fans learned last fall with the Falcons, starts to a campaign (good or bad) don't always mean a whole lot.

But Bowden used the benefit of hindsight as he argued why it's understandable the Braves are off to a slow start. A month ago, no one predicted the Braves to start 5-13 even though everyone knew Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. would miss the beginning of the season.

Jurickson Profar's suspension, Reynaldo López's injury and slow starts from position players such as Matt Olson and Michael Harris II explain the rough start. But none of that was predicted, and therefore, the Braves slow start was actually not at all expected.

Most of that couldn't have been expected. But some of it could have been anticipated such as López's injury. Every MLB team should assume it is going to lose a starter or two at some point during the regular season.

But the Braves didn't add any starters in free agency because it trusted its young pitching depth.

On offense, the Braves could have at least considered the possibility of Olson not bouncing back to his 2023 MVP-like level. The Braves could have signed another hitter not coming off a career year at 31 years old.

The organization chose not to.

I expect the Braves to climb back into contention too. But the team is not in a position anyone predicted, and that's reason enough to be concerned.