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To say that the Atlanta Braves have been dealt a bad hand as of late would be a bit of an understatement. They've dealt with injuries all season long, some season-ending, like that of superstar reigning National League MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. to a torn left ACL, which was the exclamation point to it all.
These injuries have resulted in the 2024 Braves doing very un-Braves-like things so far this season. They lost four total series last month, including one against the Washington Nationals and another to the Pittsburgh Pirates, each of which holds a losing record. Until taking 2-out-of-3 against the Oakland Athletics this past weekend, they had lost four out of their last seven. For the month of May as a whole, they were 13-14 (.481), which was the first time they've gone under .500 for a month since May of 2022.
Yet still, this team has the fifth-best record in the National League at 33-24, meaning if the playoffs started today they'd be in as a Wild Card team. That's also good enough to give them second place in the NL East, seven games behind the roaring Philadelphia Phillies who have yet to even lose 20 games this season.
Even though Atlanta is nine games above .500, this team still feels like it's trying to find itself and its identity this season. Last year's overpowering barrage of an offense is nowhere to be found, with injuries likely to be at least one of the root causes. Ultimately, though, this team just isn't garnering hits or scoring runs that everyone has grown accustomed to. In their last 29 games, Atlanta is 29th in runs scored and 24th in hits and is slashing .231/.295/.381/.676 as a team, according to stats by FanGraphs.
Most of that is even when they did have Acuna in the lineup. In fact, he was one of the guys that was drawing the most criticism and concern. He had looked nothing like the MVP from last year before he was sidelined.
Acuna, even in absence, is still playing a major part in what and where this team is going this season. His loss, much like Spencer Striders, presents a huge detriment to the team's goals seeing as how that's taking away two of the MLB's top 100 players. All future decisions concerning potential roster moves for Atlanta will be hinged by these two gigantic injuries.
With two full months down and counting, the month of June presents the Braves with a whole new set of challenges to which they'll have to overcome should they want to continue to stay in the hunt in the National League. The next four weeks or so will likely tell what this team's goals will be for the remainder of the season and if they want to be heavily involved leading up to the MLB trade deadline on July 30.
The Braves face a tough June
To begin the month of June, the Braves will be on a 10-day road trip where they'll get just one day off. They'll have 16 total road games in all to just 11 at home in Truist Park.
A lot of their opponents will come from the American League East, playing every team from the division but the Toronto Blue Jays. They'll start the upcoming road series going to Boston to face the Red Sox for two games and will end it with a three-game series in Baltimore to face the Orioles at Camden Yards with a four-game Nationals' series smudged in between.
For part of their home series, they'll host the Detroit Tigers, who have won seven out of their last 10 and are right at .500. Right after, they'll head to the Bronx to take on Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and the New York Yankees, who are tied with the Phillies currently for the best record in baseball.
Technically, five teams the Braves face in June have losing records, but one of those is a makeup game against the Chicago White Sox on June 27. The others are the Tampa Bay Rays (29-31), St. Louis Cardinals (28-30), Pirates (27-32), and Nationals (27-32). Two are at .500 (Tigers, Red Sox) and the other two are in a back-and-forth battle for their division.
Sure, it could be worse, but facing two of the league's best teams in the Orioles and the Yankees in the same month on the road is a rough hand to be dealt when you're currently struggling to find wins. Both are good teams at home as well, with a combined 39-20 record.
Remember how the 2021 season played out
Braves fans have likely not forgotten their magical 2021 season that ended with their first World Series title in 26 years. What they may have forgotten, however, is how that team struggled for most of that season.
By the end of May, they were one game under .500 at 25-26. They got as much down as five games under that at 32-35 on June 18 and as much as eight games back in the NL East two days prior. Then on July 10, they lost Acuna to his first ACL injury, that time in his right knee. The Braves were dead even at 44-44.
Being so close to the trade deadline that was approaching on July 30, Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos went out and grabbed four outfielders to replace Acuna. In a weird turn of events, the team's strikeouts went down, while their batting average and slugging percentage went up. Atlanta was overall 41-41 with him that season and 47-32 without him.
However, making comparisons like that this season could be dangerous. The NL East looks much different now, mainly because of the Phillies. Also, Acuna's injury was a lot closer to the deadline, which allowed the team to know their immediate interest. Lots can play out between now and this season's trade deadline. Plus, the Braves were down then just Acuna and not one of their star pitchers.
The Braves are still on pace to win 95.3 games, according to Power Rankings Guru. That's a 4.5 difference from their preseason projection.
