PHOENIX – To this point, the 2025 Braves have for the most part been disappointing, confusing, maddening and unlucky. They have not played to their potential – not even close.
And yet, even after Sunday’s loss, they are 12-15. They now have three games in Colorado against the lowly Rockies. Sweep those and they’ll be a .500 team by the time they return to Truist Park to begin the month of May.
The Braves on Sunday lost to the Diamondbacks, 6-4, at Chase Field. Atlanta missed on a chance to sweep a team projected to contend in the National League this season. Still, the Braves won the series to continue the momentum they’ve built since the beginning of their last homestand.
“No, it’s good,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It feels more like things are evening out now, the whole league. I think we’re over the beginning of the year and things are going to start settling in and being what we’re used to here. But I like the way this last week that we’ve had a really good run, we’ve had a great stretch of coming back, we were right there today – had the go-ahead run at the plate. We’re fighting our way back.”
Yes, things could be better.
But things could also be worse – much worse.
The Rockies are 4-23. Yes, you read that correctly: Four wins in 27 tries. They were swept by the Reds at home this weekend. They have the worst record in baseball by multiple games. Now, they prepare to host the Braves, who have spent the last week and a half trying to pull themselves out of the hole they dug over the first two weeks of the season.
The Braves began 0-7. Sweep the Rockies and they’ll be 15-15 ahead of a three-game series with the Dodgers at Truist Park.
“At the end of the day, taking two out of three over a really good team – obviously you’d like to win three, but I like where we’re at going into Colorado,” Austin Riley said.
Is there anything more for which Braves fans could’ve asked after the horrific start? No Ronald Acuña Jr. No Spencer Strider (save for one start). No Reynaldo López (save for one start). No Jurickson Profar (save for one series). And still, the Braves aren’t buried early in this season.
On Sunday, Spencer Schwellenbach once again wasn’t at his best – though that’s a high bar. He allowed four runs – three earned – over six innings. The one unearned run was due to his own throwing error. With the current state of their rotation, the Braves need Schwellenbach in dominant form. He hasn’t been that over his last few starts.
The offense, though, is alive. The Braves have scored at least six runs in five of their last nine games. They’ve won three straight series and seven of their last nine games. They’re tied with the Marlins for last place in the NL East, but with a ways to go.
The Phillies, who hadn’t yet played by the time the Braves finished, are 14-13. The Nationals are 13-15. The Mets are 19-9, but the Braves haven’t yet played a game against them. The situation is not as bleak as you may have imagined.
“Yeah, I think we all expect to play like this every time,” Schwellenbach said. “We got a really good team and a lot of confidence in each and every one of our guys that when we come out here, each of us are going to take control of what we can control and come out on top.”
The Braves on Sunday had opportunities to win and sweep Arizona. They scored a run off Justin Martinez in the ninth and Ozzie Albies represented the go-ahead run with two outs before he flied out to center field to end the game.
In the seventh inning, the Braves pulled within a run of the D-backs and had runners on the corners with no outs. But Riley and Marcell Ozuna struck out and, after Matt Olson walked, Albies popped out in foul territory.
And in the bottom of the seventh, Josh Naylor lined a two-out, two-run double off Aaron Bummer. Michael Harris II and Alex Verdugo converged on it, but it was a tough play and the ball fell.
Still, the Braves gave themselves a chance to win. This is a positive because it’s happening a lot more now.
And again: There’s a ton of time to go.
The positives are aplenty: Verdugo, who had a four-hit game on Sunday, has sparked the lineup. Austin Riley and Matt Olson have provided some pop. Eli White has given the club a surprise injection of offense. Nick Allen continues to have good at-bats, run the bases well and play good defense. Acuña is still on the way, with Strider (hamstring strain) perhaps not far behind him.
When the team is rolling, the positives are contagious.
“Oh yeah, for sure,” Riley said. “Hitting is contagious. You try to build on that and I think we’re doing that. Just one of those days where it didn’t go our way, but I think we’re in a good spot going into Colorado.”
One of the reasons why: The lineup is longer with White hitting well and Allen having tough at-bats. And when there aren’t easy outs at the bottom, a pitcher’s job is tougher.
Take it from Schwellenbach, whose job is to game-plan for lineups.
“That makes it extremely tough when you get to the bottom of the order and you think you got some outs there and they end up rolling it to the top of the lineup and you got some guys who can do some serious damage,” he said. “It’s definitely really hard to pitch to a team like that.”
And now, that team goes to Colorado, where it has a juicy opportunity against a bad club.
All of the sudden, the conversation around the Braves has changed. They’re no longer the underwhelming team not living up to expectations. They’ve shown life and provided promise that their best days aren’t even here yet.
This is baseball, though.
It can change in a way.
“It was brought on ourselves, and we deserved it,” Riley said of the types of questions that were asked as recently as a week ago. “But we’re in a good spot and we’re starting to continue to build on it. Up and down the lineup, we’re having good ABs and giving ourselves a chance to win. I really like what we’re doing in the late innings and giving ourselves a chance to win ballgames. And that fight, I think that’s encouraging.”
