The Atlanta Braves are officially back at .500, making more history

Coming into the season, nobody expected the Atlanta Braves to be celebrating a .500 record after 42 games, but nobody also could have predicted the events of the first six weeks.

From an 0-7 start to injuries, suspensions, drama, and everything in between — these first six weeks have aged anyone who’s followed this team closely. But despite not quite looking like themselves at any point, the Braves have managed to go on a 21-14 run — the second-best record in the National League over that stretch — and become just the fifth team in MLB history to reach the .500 mark after starting the season 0-7.

“It is a big deal when you consider just four other teams had ever gone from 0-7 to a .500 record at any point of the same season,” Mark Bowman writes for MLB.com. “According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only team to accomplish this in fewer games than the 21-21 Braves were the 1945 Red Sox, who evened their record in the season’s 38th game”

It’s even more impressive when taking into account the Braves didn’t really get going until Game #19. On April 16th, Atlanta was 5-13; since then, they’ve gone 16-8 to get back to the .500 mark. That’s a 108-win pace over 162 games, which they’ve been able to accomplish without their two best players, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider, and while their offense has mostly underwhelmed, even during this winning stretch.

No team in MLB history has ever made the postseason after starting the year 0-7. There’s still a ways to go for the Braves to become the first team to do it, but a win today over the Nationals to get the team back over .500 for the first time all season along with the pending return of Ronald Acuña Jr., whose rehab assignment began yesterday, would be positive momentum this team hasn’t felt since the beginning of the 2024 campaign.