Alex Anthopoulos Has Failed the Braves Yet Again

There is no taking the 2021 World Series away from Alex Anthopoulos. He deserves enormous credit for what he did that summer.

With Ronald Acuña Jr. injured and Atlanta sitting around .500, Anthopoulos acquired Joc Pederson, Jorge Soler, Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall. The moves looked modest at the time and became legendary. Rosario won NLCS MVP, Soler won World Series MVP, and Atlanta captured its first championship since 1995.

But at some point, the Braves have to stop living off 2021.

Five years later, that deadline increasingly looks like the exception rather than the standard.

The Braves Keep Watching Other Teams Get Aggressive

Atlanta entered the 2026 deadline 22 games over .500 with a legitimate championship-caliber roster. More importantly, everyone knew what the Braves needed: another legitimate starting pitcher.

Anthopoulos essentially admitted it himself. Before the deadline, he said Atlanta would “jump” at the opportunity to acquire a playoff-caliber starter. MLB also identified starting pitching as the Braves’ clear priority.

Then the deadline arrived.

Atlanta added Tyler Mahle, Lane Thomas, Bailey Falter, Brent Suter and Cade Uberstine, among other maneuvering, but the frontline starter never came.

That’s difficult to accept when this isn’t some rebuilding team trying to sneak into a Wild Card spot.

The Braves are trying to win a World Series.

There comes a point where protecting every prospect and refusing to overpay becomes its own form of failure. Championship windows don’t stay open forever. Players age. Injuries happen. Contracts expire.

If you believe this roster can win the World Series, go finish the roster.

What Has Atlanta Actually Done Since 2021?

This is where the criticism of Anthopoulos becomes much harder to dismiss.

The Braves’ postseason results after winning the championship have been ugly:

• 2022: Lost NLDS 3-1 to Philadelphia
• 2023: Lost NLDS 3-1 to Philadelphia
• 2024: Swept 2-0 by San Diego in the Wild Card Series
• 2025: Missed the postseason

That’s two total postseason victories since winning the 2021 World Series.

Yes, Anthopoulos has built excellent regular-season teams. Yes, injuries have played a role. And yes, some of his best work has come outside the deadline through extensions, trades and roster construction.

But we’re talking about October.

When the Braves won 104 games in 2023, they went home after four playoff games. When they reached October in 2024, they didn’t win a game.

At some point, regular-season success isn’t enough.

2026 Was the Time to Be Aggressive

That’s what makes this deadline particularly frustrating.

The 2025 deadline was understandable. Atlanta was headed toward a losing season, and Anthopoulos said he wasn’t interested in dumping players simply for the sake of making trades.

Fine.

But what’s the excuse in 2026?

This is exactly the situation where a contender should be aggressive. Atlanta has a talented core, a strong record and enough prospect capital to make something happen.

Instead, another deadline passed without the major addition that could dramatically change Atlanta’s postseason ceiling.

Maybe Mahle pitches well. Maybe the rotation gets healthy. Maybe Anthopoulos is proven right.

But Braves fans have heard some version of that optimism before.

2021 Can’t Protect Anthopoulos Forever

Anthopoulos isn’t a bad executive. His overall résumé in Atlanta is too good to make that argument seriously.

But his recent trade-deadline résumé deserves criticism.

The 2021 deadline was brilliant. It was also five years ago.

Since then, Atlanta has repeatedly entered seasons with World Series expectations and has not won more than one game in any individual postseason run. Now the Braves finally entered another deadline positioned as a legitimate contender, openly acknowledged their biggest weakness and still failed to acquire the kind of starter they seemingly spent weeks discussing.

Eventually, “the price was too high” stops being an explanation.

If Atlanta suffers another early October exit because the rotation wasn’t good enough, Anthopoulos shouldn’t be able to point back to 2021 anymore.