Braves offensive collapse headlines a nightmare June

The Braves should be eager to get home after yet another dismal road trip that saw them go 1-5 out west, much of which can be attributed to a struggling offense that scored just seven runs in five of their games.

That’s probably the most shocking aspect of Atlanta’s recent rough patch. The starting pitching was always expected to experience some level of regression, even if it’s probably been worse than many would have expected. The lineup experiencing this level of dropoff, however, is not something anybody could have predicted.

For the first two months, the Braves were at or near the top of every significant offensive statistic, and they did it while almost never being at full strength. The absence of Ronald Acuña Jr. and the oblique injury to Drake Baldwin — an issue that still appears to be lingering even if he has returned — have certainly played a factor, but it’s really difficult to pinpoint why this team has become by far the worst offensive performers in June.

As a whole, the Braves have posted an absurdly horrendous 65 wRC+. That’s 35% below league average and good for last place by an astounding 18 points. It’s a large enough sample size at such a low level that some uncomfortable conversations must be had about where this group is heading, even if first-year manager Walt Weiss isn’t concerned about the club’s rapidly shrinking lead in the NL East over the currently scorching hot Phillies.

“Yeah, I don’t care what (the division) lead is. I could care less,” Weiss said, via Chad Bishop of The Atlanta Journal Constitution. “It’s early. We knew we had a big lead early and there was several months to go. I’m not worried about anybody else but ourselves right now.”

Weiss’ comments are those of someone who knows how quickly things can change over the course of a 162-game season. Just like his predecessor, he’s understanding of how important it is to never overreact when things are going well and to do the same when things are going poorly as well.

That said, nobody can be feeling too confident about where things stand as the All-Star break approaches. The Braves’ rotation is in shambles, featuring not a single reliable arm outside of Chris Sale. And the offense — which is supposed to be the backbone of the team — is looking awfully similar to the version we saw throughout the 2025 campaign.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel in the form of potential additions at the trade deadline and the eventual return of Ronald Acuña Jr. — but neither of those is coming to save the Braves anytime soon.

Acuña likely isn’t going to return until after the All-Star break. The Braves are rightfully taking things extremely cautiously with him given it’s his second injury to the same hamstring, and legitimate trade conversations haven’t really even started yet. It’ll be at least a few more weeks before Alex Anthopoulos gets to work in that area.

But even with those additions, the NL East no longer feels like it’s the Braves to lose, and a spot in the playoffs no longer seems a foregone conclusion. Quite the falloff for a team where it seemed nothing could go wrong just 30 days ago.