There is no relief. There are no answers. There is only struggle.
On August 9, 2017, the Atlanta Braves lost 3-2 to the Philadelphia Phillies at what is now known as Truist Park. Sean Newcomb started and gave up three runs (two in the third and one in the fifth) and two runs from the Braves in the seventh inning weren’t enough for the Braves to eventually overcome the deficit. The two RBI came from pinch-hitter Danny Santana, who then took over in left field for Matt Adams. Ender Iniciarte led off for the Braves. Freddie Freeman was hitting third and holding down the fort at first base. Ozzie Albies and Dansby Swanson were precocious young talents continuing to cut their teeth in the big leagues. The loss put the Braves at precisely 10 games under .500 at 51-61.
On June 8, 2025, the Atlanta Braves lost 4-3 to the San Francisco Giants. The loss put the Braves at precisely 10 games under .500 at 27-37. One of very few things that this 2025 Braves team has in common with that 2017 Braves squad is that they both know what it’s like to be 10 games under .500. Other than that, the circumstances and expectations couldn’t be any more different. While it was understood that that 2017 Braves team was still a little bit way’s away from competing, this 2025 Braves team entered the season as a World Series contender on paper. Well, the games aren’t played on paper and real life is currently laying the smackdown on the Braves right now. Let’s talk about this series in San Francisco, y’all.
Friday, June 6
Giants 5, Braves 4
There were a couple of things that the Braves probably didn’t need to see happen to them following their calamitous collapse against the Diamondbacks on Thursday. The first thing was that Spencer Schwellenbach stumbled out of the gate in the first inning and so the Braves had to work themselves out of a 3-run hole for most of this game.
Fortunately, the Braves didn’t seem interested in rolling over during this game. The Braves put a pair of runs on the board in the fourth inning and then they responded to the Giants pushing the deficit back to two runs by eventually tying the game up at four runs apiece after Matt Olson hit a game-tying homer in the seventh inning.
The final three innings of regulation baseball came and went without much incident but the tenth inning was packed with incidents. The Braves found themselves in a bases loaded situation but it was with two outs and Luke Williams at the plate, so the magic was not going to happen this time. Instead, it happened for the Giants as they used two productive outs and a wild pitch from Pierce Johnson to score the winning walk-off run for San Francisco. Remember when I said there were a couple of things the Braves didn’t want to see? Losing in such devastating fashion was the other thing. Blah.
Saturday, June 7
Giants 3, Braves 2
After this game, exasperation is surely starting to set in. On paper, this pitching matchup certainly didn’t favor the Braves at all but the thing about Bryce Elder is that he has a knack for upending expectations — for better or worse. This time, it was for the better as Elder delivered one of the best starts of his career in this one. Elder went eight innings, struck out a career-high 12 batters and only gave up three hits and one run (on his usual hanger that he left right in the heart of the zone in order for it to get crushed. Some things don’t change) with no walks. Bryce Elder was absolutely fantastic in this one and he gave the Braves exactly what they needed.
However, I think y’all all know the formula for the Braves at this point. If one thing is going well, nothing else is allowed to go well. Now granted, Atlanta’s lineup gave it an admirable effort in this one against star pitcher Logan Webb. Webb lived up to his expectations as he struck out ten but he left the game trailing after he gave up a pair of runs — one of which was a home run from Michael Harris II. So while it wasn’t a huge day at the plate for the Braves, they had seemingly done enough to eke out a win here.
Then the ninth inning rolled around. With Raisel Iglesias’ bullpen role currently in flux, Pierce Johnson was called upon to close the ninth inning. He gave up a one-out single to Heliot Ramos and then got Wilmer Flores to pop out in foul territory before he hung a curveball to Matt Chapman that Chapman made no mistake with. All of Atlanta’s hard work to scratch out a victory got wiped out in a few pitches and the misery kept roiling about within Braves Country.
Sunday, June 8
Giants 4, Braves 3
Well, at least the Braves didn’t lose this one in the ninth (or tenth) inning and/or in walk-off fashion! Instead, this was just an old-fashioned “come-from-ahead” loss for the Braves, as it was all good in this one until it suddenly wasn’t. Atlanta got out ahead in the first inning of this one thanks to a productive out from Matt Olson cashing in a leadoff walk from Ronald Acuña Jr. and then they re-took the lead in the third inning after Olson hit an RBI double to make it a 3-1 game.
Spencer Strider started for the Braves and his fourth inning ended up being the fateful one in this one. Strider walked the first two batters he saw and nearly erased those walks after he retired the next two batters he saw. Then Mike Yastrzemski got a hold of a low slider from Strider and sent it into the right field corner, meaning that the game was now tied with Yaz in scoring position. Then Strider got Tyler Fitzgerald to hit a deep grounder towards Ozzie Albies. Ozzie booted the ball and so the Braves went from potentially escaping the inning with the lead to leaving the fourth inning trailing 4-3.
That’s how it ended! Atlanta’s offense largely died off following that fourth inning and while Strider eventually settled down and got six innings under his belt, it was once again not enough to help push Atlanta to victory. All three of these games were close but close only counts in horseshoes, right?
If you include last season’s NL Wild Card Series, the Braves have lost 12 straight games in the state of California. They’ve lost seven straight games overall and this is now their second seven-game losing streak this season. They added three more one-run losses to their tally in this series so they’ve now lost 10 straight one-run games. They’re 3-14 in their last 17. Speaking of 17, this brings me back to the aforementioned 2017 season, which was famously the last year where the Braves missed the Postseason. At least in that year, missing the Postseason seemed like that was always the way that year was going to end. Here in 2025, it was inconceivable to imagine the Braves being this bad. Yet here they are: This bad!
If you’re coming here looking for answers, the only thing I’ve got for y’all is that they’ve just got to keep plugging away at it. As I mentioned in my earlier rant article concerning Atlanta’s struggles at the moment, it’s been a year of this now. As I also mentioned, I don’t know how this gets fixed, either. The injuries are no longer an excuse. If you count Spencer Strider, then eight of the 10 players who started for the Braves on Sunday were also on the field to start the game when they clinched the 2023 NL East title in Philadelphia. These are the same guys but they ain’t the same dudes, if you catch my drift. We’d better hope that those old dudes finally make their return to Atlanta’s clubhouse because otherwise, this season is destined to end in a dumpster fire.