After winning a World Series a season ago, the Atlanta Braves have been one of the more disappointing teams in all of baseball to start the season. At 19-23, the Braves already find themselves in third place of the National League East and trail the first-place New York Mets by 9 games.
The Braves also had a somewhat similar start a season ago, but then were able to get hot at the midway point throughout the regular season and that ended with them winning a World Series.
The Atlanta Braves haven't necessarily played horribly to start the season, but they could be much better. At 19-23 after winning the World Series and finally having Ronald Acuna Jr back, the first 40-plus games for Atlanta have certainly been a disappointment.
When looking at the Braves' stats throughout the season, the first thing that's going to jump out on paper is that this team currently has the seventh-worst batting average in all of baseball at .228. They are in the bottom half of the MLB with some of the worst teams in all of baseball, including the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Baltimore Orioles.
One reason that they've been able to win ball games throughout the first 40 games is that they've managed to hit a good amount of home runs. Atlanta currently has the fifth-most home runs in all of baseball with 52.
One thing that the Atlanta Braves are going to have to look for at the 2022 MLB tradeline is some guys that can come in and make an immediate impact on the offensive side of the ball. Atlanta got monster contributions out of guys like Jorge Soler, and others a year ago that they were able to acquire at the trade deadline, but then they let them walk in free agency.
When looking at the Atlanta lineup, it's easy to see that they have to feel optimistic about the future. A lineup that offers Ronald Acuna Jr, Matt Olson, Marcell Ozuna, Austin Riley, and Ozzie Albies is eventually going to figure it out. But they could still find a way to get better.
Unless this Atlanta Braves team can play significantly better than they currently have to start the season, it doesn't look like they're going to have a chance of winning another World Series.
Not only do they not have a chance of winning the World Series at the moment, but it also doesn't look like they're going to make the playoffs.
