It’s been a rough week for the Atlanta Braves, with Thursday’s 9th-inning meltdown against the Diamondbacks serving as a “rock bottom” for the Braves season thus far. Somehow, things have only gotten worse since Thursday, with Friday’s walk-off extra innings loss on a wild pitch being followed by Saturday’s terrible “gut punch” defeat. Just like that, the team that previously clawed their way back over .500 as recently as May 17th has all of the sudden joined the Miami Marlins in the cellar of the NL East.
The team has a 27-36 record, meaning that they are 12.5 games back in the National League East standings & 9 games back in the National League Wild Card standings. Everyone is frustrated, with manager Brian Snitker getting ejected for the first time this season after arguing over balls & strikes with home plate umpire Gabe Morales during the fifth inning of Saturday’s eventual 3-2 defeat to the San Francisco Giants. With this in mind, let’s take a look at why an emergency team meeting is necessary, the history of such team meetings, & why it would benefit the team moving forward.
There’s still plenty of baseball left to play
There are 99 regular season games of MLB action remaining, which is why now is the perfect opportunity to kick everyone’s butts into gear and try to make a big run. It’s also important to show GM Alex Anthopoulos that it’s worth it to try & add talent at the trade deadline; otherwise, the team will look to sell & rebuild for next season. The caveat is that the team needs to stop the bleeding now before it gets any worse.
Braves lineup hitters need a reality check
Ronald Acuña Jr, Marcell Ozuna, and Drake Baldwin have been the team’s best and most consistent hitters this season while everyone else has sorely underperformed. After a disastrous 2024 season for the team’s lineup that was largely written off due to injuries and a stale hitting philosophy which led up to the offseason dismissal of veteran hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, the players are out of excuses this time around. At the end of the day, there are two reasons for the Braves 9-18 record in one-score games: offensive failures with runners in scoring position & bullpen mishandlings.
Bullpen mismanagement represents an identity crisis
After blaming the players for the team’s offensive issues, the coaches deserve equal blame for their horrid mismanagement of the team’s disastrous bullpen this season. Not one reliever has a set role in which they know when & how they are set to pitch. Part of the issue is that Raisel Iglesias has been ineffective as the team’s closer this season, but beyond that the team hasn’t found relievers capable of filling the roles vacated by the losses of Joe Jiménez (injury) and A.J. Minter (Mets) this offseason.
Braves coaches need to get these bullpen roles figured out now before it is too late. Relievers have been getting DFA’d all season long to bring up new arms with no real explanation as to why they were sent packing in the first place, and so it is time for the coaching staff to address the issue and show accountability with their response. Craig Kimbrel’s one-day cameo appearance (and later dismissal) left a sour taste in the mouths of Braves fans, so just imagine how the bullpen must have felt about it.
History and track record of success in previous team meetings
Believe it or not, the Braves having an emergency team meeting is nothing new as there have been three recent in-season meetings (one per year) dating back to 2022. Brian Snitker called the first team meeting in 2022 which resulted in 14 straight wins to chase down the Mets in an NL East race in which the Mets had a 10 1/2 game lead. The Braves skipper called a second team meeting under different circumstances in 2023, & this time it resulted in a 104-win season fueled by a historic offensive output. Finally, the Braves players then called for a third players-only meeting in 2024 which resulted in an unlikely run to the playoffs for a team with no business being there.
Right now, the team is on a six-game losing skid, & they have lost 12 of their past 16. Recent team meetings have been called for previously under similar circumstances. The bottom line is that for whatever reason, team meetings are an effective strategy. If there was ever a “perfect time” to hold an emergency team meeting, why not now?
The Sports Beacon 