History suggests Braves are facing a long road back from terrible start

The 2025 Major League Baseball season is through its first week and there is still one team that does not have a win. That is the Atlanta Braves who fell to 0-7 on Wednesday night in a walk-off loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It is a stunning start for a couple of reasons.

For one, a team starting a season 0-7 is incredibly rare. 

Second, the Braves have been one of the best teams in baseball over the past seven years. They have made the postseason every year during that stretch, including winning a World Series in 2021. On paper, this should still be a solid team. 

So far, it has not been, and that goose egg through the first week should be extremely concerning based on the history of other teams with comparable starts.

Via the Baseball-Reference StatHead database, the Braves are only the 28th team since 1901 to open a season with seven consecutive losses. 

Of the previous 27 teams, none of them made the playoffs.

Even worse, only two of them (the 1983 Houston Astros and the 1980 Braves) were able to rebound enough to finish with a winning record. 

The 1983 Astros finished 85-77 while the 1980 Braves were 81-80. 

Not only did the other teams all finish with losing records, they were among the worst teams in baseball history.

• 12 of the 25 teams with losing records lost more than 100 games.
• That includes 10 that lost more than 103 games.
• Included in that group are the 1962 New York Mets (120 losses) and the 2003 Detroit Tigers (119 losses), two of the absolute worst teams to ever play in the Major Leagues.
• There were 20 teams that lost at least 90 games.

If the Braves end up finishing this season that poorly it will mean something has gone terribly wrong with their roster. They might not be as good as they have been in recent years, but it is a long way from consistent 90-100 win seasons to joining that aforementioned group of bad teams. 

But it is at least a good comparison to show that a bad start can be a sign of what might be ahead of 162 game season.

The Braves are simply facing a long road back to contention this season. Especially in a tough National League East with the Philadelphia Phillies and Mets. If you are a Braves fan looking for something to be optimistic about, it is probably that the offense should not be as bad all season as it has been through the first seven games. 

There are too many proven players with track records here for it to continue to be this bad. They also have not had a single game from yet from outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. as he works his way back from another knee injury, or starting catcher Sean Murphy. Jurickson Profar should also return following his 80-game suspension.

There is big help still on the way. 

They have also played two season-opening series against two of the best teams in the National League in the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers. 

The problem is going to be if the Braves fall into too big of a deficit by the time those players return for it all to matter. Teams might not be able to make the playoffs in April. They can certainly put themselves in a position where they can miss them in April.