The beginning of this season has been a legitimately historic exercise in futility for the Braves. They now have quite the hole to dig themselves out of, as no team has ever made the playoffs after starting 0-7, with the caveat that the playoffs have recently expanded. They were frankly fortunate to have scored 5 runs in Wednesday’s game, not hitting a home run and capitalizing on a number of Dodgers’ defensive mishaps, but Bryce Elder and the bullpen could not hold onto the lead. Through seven games, the Braves have now scored in only five, held a lead at any point in only 3, and won zero games. The pitching has been fine, if not great so far, but the offense has just not been there, as was the case for so long last season. Injuries and suspensions can only hurt. The Braves have already lost nearly 5% of the games they will play this season before winning a single one. This has been very bad, but maybe playing the Marlins is what they need to turn things around.
Braves News
The Braves lost yet another game, their seventh straight, as Shohei Ohtani hit a walk-off homer to cap off the Dodgers’ comeback from a 5-0 early Braves’ lead.
MLB.com’s Mark Bowman thinks that Nick Allen could…and should be the primary shortstop for the Braves this season. He has certainly played a significant role so far.
MLB News
The Diamondbacks completed an extension with their star infielder Ketel Marte.
The Red Sox completed an extension with top prospect Kristian Campbell for 8 years and $60 million guaranteed plus two club options.
The Dodgers traded for Esteury Ruiz from the A’s, who was a part of the Sean Murphy trade and was DFA’d a few days ago.
The Padres finalized an extension with the young Jackson Merril for 9 years and $135 million, and a club option.
