Where Braves Stand in Draft Lottery for Top Pick

For what it's worth this season, the Atlanta Braves are in striking distance of the top pick in the draft

The Braves are on a race to the top of next year's draft | Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

In a twist that many Atlanta Braves fans, or the team itself, surely didn’t expect, the team currently sits with one of the worst records in Major League Baseball.

Despite such an awful, injury-ridden season, the Braves have one thing to look forward to: next year’s draft. General manager Alex Anthopoulos has already stated in an interview that the team is looking to “try to get some form of help for 2026 and beyond.” A top pick in the draft would help with the "beyond" part of that plan.

The Braves, which currently sit at 47-66, have been given the second-best odds to net the No. 1 pick, admittedly a little too close for comfort when compared to the White Sox, who sport an abysmal 42-71 record and the best odds for the pick – a scary sight for Braves fans, to be sure.

Interestingly, the Rockies, who’ve been consistently the worst team in baseball for a few years, can only have the 10th pick at best, due to the rules of the draft lottery. Even with them having one of the worst seasons in the history of the game, the Braves have a better chance than they do.

MLB is looking to punish those who are tanking, and that's where that punishment comes in.

The Braves sport a 20.56% chance to land the top pick, according to Tankathon, while the White Sox have a slight advantage with a 25.61% chance for the top pick, and the 49-65 Pirates
fall just behind with a 15.52% chance.

The Braves are certainly in a spot where they need all the help they can get, and since their own general manager stated that the focus is on the upcoming season, and not the season the team is currently playing in, it’s clear that the Braves may almost need a top-three pick in order to feel like this season was at all productive.

Does that mean the Braves will start tanking? The Lottery certainly doesn’t approve, but it would be hard to police a team that’s already been so uncharacteristically bad this season.

MLB has had a draft lottery since 2023 to decide the early picks of the draft. The Pirates won the inaugural draft lottery, and the Cleveland Guardians and Washington Nationals have been the other winners thus far in that order. The next winner will be known soon enough.