Who knows when or if this is going to get better for the Braves?
The Atlanta Braves are in trouble. There’s no sugarcoating it or trying to make it seem like things are better than what they are. The fact is that the Braves are in the midst of an absolute nightmare season here in 2025 and it’s gotten to the point where it’s basically useless to declare any given moment as being “rock bottom” because at this point we have no clue just how bad this is going to get.
If that sounds too depressing, it’s because that’s where I’m at and that’s all I’ve got at this point. The Braves were set for three games against a team that has been just as disappointing as they have been this season in the form of the Baltimore Orioles. If there was ever an opportunity to at least start taking small steps towards a miraculous turnaround, this felt like a prime opportunity for it. The O’s have looked just as frustratingly poor as the Braves have this season, after all.
With that being said, the Braves are missing a large chunk of their rotation and we’ve gotten deep enough into the season to where a lot of the players just are what they are right now and it’s tough to envision a major change coming. Just as it would’ve been a great opportunity for a turnaround, it was also just as feasible to see the Braves show the O’s what a real disappointment looks like. Let’s see how that turned out!
Friday, July 4
Orioles 3, Braves 2
Charlie Morton received a very warm welcome back to Atlanta — both from the fans and from his former teammates on the field, as the Braves weren’t exactly able to light up the scoreboard against the 41-year-old 2021 World Series champion. Morton went 5.1 innings and only gave up two runs while striking out seven — this wasn’t his best start of the season but it’s the type of start that any team would’ve happily taken and a far cry from the shambolic form he was in to begin the season.
With that being said, this is a Braves blog and not an Orioles blog so this wasn’t exactly good news for us. Spencer Strider went toe-to-toe with his former rotation mate as he eventually finished with six innings under his belt with just one walk given up, seven hits allowed and six strikeouts. Unfortunately, Strider made two big mistakes in this one and they both got blasted over the fence. Jordan Westburg got the scoring going in the third inning and then Cedric Mullins made it 3-0 in the fifth inning with his two-run dinger. I think y’all know how this goes at this point for the Braves, though: The deficit was too much for Atlanta to overcome and it eventually turned into yet another one-run loss for the Braves.
Saturday, July 5
Orioles 9, Braves 6
Thanks to the injuries and the lack of real reliable options, the Braves had to go with a bullpen game in this one. Aaron Bummer was given the ball to start things off and the plan went well for all of two innings. The Braves even led in this one after Austin Riley hit a two-run shot in the first inning to give the Braves a quick start.
However, the Braves decided to ride Aaron Bummer until the wheels fell off instead of strictly utilizing him for one trip through the order. Tyler O’Neill got the O’s on the board with a home run in the third inning and then Cedric Mullins was brought in alongside Jordan Westburg after his two-run shot put Baltimore in front.
Fortunately, this was one of those days where the Braves didn’t look completely bereft of confidence at the plate and Matt Olson continued to make his case for an All-Star appearance by crushing a leadoff dinger to tie the game back up at three. Dylan Dodd gave up a moonshot to Colton Cowser in the very next frame and Baltimore pushed back into the lead at 5-3. However, the Braves counter-punched in their next frame with an RBI single from Olson and a huge double from Austin Riley to make it a 5-5 ballgame. The Braves actually went ahead in the sixth but this was actually a missed opportunity — all Atlanta could get from a bases-loaded, nobody-out situation was a productive out leading to an RBI from Jurickson Profar.
That missed opportunity ended up coming back to haunt the Braves dearly as the bullpen was unable to make the one-run lead hold up. Baltimore tied it back up in the seventh off of Austin Cox and then the O’s cashed in their Manfred Man and added two more runs on top of that in order to doom the Braves to a series loss.
Sunday, July 6
Orioles 2, Braves 1
Grant Holmes has tossed 22.2 innings over his past four starts and he’s only given up four runs with 27 strikeouts over that span. Holmes has stepped up and been the rock that this injury-ravaged rotation has sorely needed and he’s clearly doing his level-best to keep the Braves in games at the moment. It’s been impressive to see him continue to improve, especially considering how rocky of a start he had to begin the season in 2025. He’s firmly established himself as a reliable starter and it really makes you think about what this rotation would look like if it was fully healthy.
Anyways, despite Holmes having another good start, he gave up two runs and this was one of many bad days for the Braves to have to score more than two runs this season. Trevor Rogers was on the mound for Baltimore and he completely held the Braves at bay while he was out there. Atlanta didn’t get a real sniff until near the end of Rogers’ stint, which is when Sean Murphy hit a deep fly to right-center field. It looked like he had hit a homer but somehow, the ball perfectly caromed off the top of the wall and back into play for a double. Rogers got the next two outs, Baltimore turned to Yennier Cano for the final out of the seventh and he got it. At that point, the Braves were being shut out and it seemed like the baseball gods were also conspiring to keep Atlanta off of the scoreboard.
Sean Murphy eventually got his home run in the ninth inning but by then it was too little, too late and the potential tying run was left stranded at first to end the game. Again, Grant Holmes has only given up four runs in his last four starts and the Braves have gone 1-3 in those games. Cool.
Yeah, there’s not a lot to say about this. Three more games of either Atlanta’s lineup letting themselves down in a low-scoring defeat or Atlanta’s pitching staff bending and eventually breaking in a high-scoring loss. Sure, everybody’s trying hard and nobody’s more frustrated about this situation than the players, coaches and front office. Still, this is some bleak baseball that we’ve witnessed from this team. It’s no longer a case of it being early or a slow start. This is just it, which means that this is suddenly becoming an incredibly fascinating period of time for the Braves with the Trade Deadline just a few weeks away.
I don’t think that anybody could’ve possibly envisioned the Braves selling at the deadline once the season started back in late-March but here we are! It’s early-July and it’s honestly seeming like the best course forward for the Braves would be to do some retooling and call this season a wash. Again, I know that might sound harsh but at the same time, we just witnessed the Braves go 2-7 on a nine-game homestand that included a struggling Phillies team, a mediocre Angels team and a similarly-disappointing Orioles team. If the Braves had the horses for this in 2025, this likely would’ve been the time that we would’ve seen the Braves give us something to hold on to as far as hope goes.
Instead, the Braves are now flying across country after the worst homestand of the season where they’re now 11 games under .500 and looking to win their first game of the season in California after failing in their past 10 tries. At this point, it’s not a question of putting out the fire as far as this season is concerned — it’s only a matter of seeing just how high the flames are going to rise.