It's Time for the Braves To Blow It Up

The Braves found a way to lose yet again on Thursday afternoon, dropping their sixth game in the last seven and falling to 25-29 on the season — a 75-win pace. Atlanta scored two runs in the eighth inning to tie the game with some rare clutch hitting before promptly giving the lead back up in the bottom half and ending the game with the bases loaded in the ninth for an extra twist of the knife.

The worst news of all is they play again tonight against Zack Wheeler, so 25-30 is likely right around the corner.

Today's loss brings the Braves' record to 82-80 in their last 162 games, despite the fact Atlanta's pitching staff has put up some of the best numbers in baseball over that stretch. The Braves have a team OPS of .705 this season, which is 30 points lower than the 2017 team that went 72-90 and featured lineup mainstays such as Tyler Flowers, Ender Inciarte and Matt Adams — and 272 at-bats from pitchers. There is no evidence to suggest this team has the ability to turn things around offensively in any meaningful way. This is who they've been for a year and a half now.

There is virtually zero chance Atlanta can win the NL East. Whichever one of the Phillies and Mets doesn't win the division has one Wild Card spot locked up and the Padres likely have another, which leaves the Braves fighting with the Cardinals, Giants, Brewers, Reds and Diamondbacks for one postseason spot. I'd put the odds of this team being in the playoffs somewhere between slim and none.

So it's time to do something. The 2021 World Series was won by a bunch of guys who aren't on this team anymore and even when this core was clicking, it resulted in back-to-back NLDS losses. Everything is on the table now.

Ronald Acuña Jr. and Drake Baldwin are off-limits. After that, the Braves should be listening to offers for anybody. Matt Olson, Austin Riley, Marcell Ozuna and Sean Murphy are all great players. But at some point, something has to change. I'm all for firing Brian Snitker, who does suck at his job, but he's not the one out there swinging the bat. There are consequences for underperforming to the degree the Braves have for well over a year now.

I don't want to be in this position. This was supposed to be the one team in the National League with a legitimate chance to compete with the Dodgers for a World Series berth. But there has to be a come to Jesus moment at some point, and it seems like we're there.

This team stinks. It has stunk for a prolonged period of time now. Continuing down this path seems like a less desirable option to me than ripping off the Band-Aid now and figuring out how to move forward.