Braves’ Austin Riley opens up on ‘terrible’ individual season

On Wednesday, the Atlanta Braves saw their 2026 season come to an end with a tough home loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLDS. The Braves now face an offseason filled with more questions than answers after several of their most reliable bats melted down in the series against Los Angeles.

Among those was Austin Riley, who struggled mightily throughout the regular season this year, a trend that unfortunately continued throughout most of the season.

After the loss, Riley got 100 percent real on the frustrations of his tough year.

“I have to be better. I was terrible all year. I had some stretches where I showed life, but this is a game of consistency and it wasn’t that this year,” he said, per Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on X, formerly Twitter.

Riley has been battling with injuries and other issues over the last couple of years, and all of those problems seemed to culminate with his disastrous performance in 2026, a year in which he set the Braves’ record for most strikeouts in a season.

Although he did have one epic playoff moment in Game 1 of the Wild Card series against the Philadelphia Phillies, those vibes quickly dissipated after he did next to nothing for the remainder of Atlanta’s playoff run.

Further complicating matters is the massive contract that Riley is currently on, paying him more than $20 million a year and taking him through the 2032 season, which could make him a difficult piece to trade if his struggles continue beyond this season.

Of course, Riley wasn’t the only big-name player to melt down against the Dodgers, but clearly, he knows he has to be better moving forward.