The Atlanta Braves are going to miss the playoffs in 2025, snapping their seven-year postseason streak. A lot of their key players have underperformed, and in the end, they weren't even close to threatening for a playoff spot. But their end to the 2025 season bodes well for their chances at redemption in 2026, as they extended their current winning streak to nine games following an 11-5 win over the Washington Nationals on Monday.
Just to put in perspective how bad the Braves have been this year, especially in comparison to where they are during their hot streak, this nine-game hot streak has only improved their record to 74-83 — 6.5 games back of the third and final NL Wild Card spot with five games to go in the season.
But this nine-game winning streak has shown that the Braves still have so much talent and that the league still better watch out for them in 2026. They made history in the process after all, with OptaSTATS revealing on X (formerly Twitter) that no other team in MLB history has gone on a nine-game winning streak without committing an error, scoring fewer than five runs or allowing more than five runs during that span other than the 2025 Braves.
This streak has seen the Braves be at their dominant best; their run differential of plus-46 during that win streak is the best in MLB, with the second-closest team, the red-hot Seattle Mariners, trailing by 20 runs (plus-26).
It's not like the Braves have only been beating up on bad teams; while five of their nine wins have come against the Nationals, three came against the Detroit Tigers and one came against the Houston Astros — with Atlanta playing spoiler in the latter two teams' plans to win their respective divisions.
It is better late than never, as the old adage goes, and the Braves have certainly taken that to heart.
Braves set themselves up for bounce-back 2026
The Braves have built a sustainable contending team with Ronald Acuna Jr. at the center of their position player core and a resurgent Chris Sale fronting their rotation. And there is plenty of talent up and down the roster, with Matt Olson posting another 5+ WAR season, and the likes of Drake Baldwin, Sean Murphy, Austin Riley, and Michael Harris II having strong finishes to the season.
Meanwhile, on the pitching side of things, Spencer Strider is a prime bounce-back candidate; he is in his first year back from Tommy John surgery, so perhaps he'll be better in 2026 once he moves further away from that injury problem.
