Photo by Thomson200, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThe Braves' Front Office Watched the Lead Burn
Alex Anthopoulos said he'd push hard for a starter before the June 30 stretch. It's July 3. The rotation is still Sale and prayer.
Alex Anthopoulos said he'd push hard for a starter before the June 30 stretch. It's July 3. The rotation is still Sale and prayer.
Eight games of the division lead. Gone in six weeks. The Phillies are 38-18 under Mattingly and don't face a winning-record opponent until July 20. They're gaining ground against cupcakes while Atlanta grinds through a no-days-off stretch with a broken rotation.
Ellis wrote the prescription two days ago. Two mid-rotation arms. Twenty-six days to fill it. The front office left it on the counter.
I was 95% sure about this team ten days ago. I'm at 45% now. That's a 50-point collapse in my own conviction, and the front office hasn't given me a single reason to stop the slide. Strider is shut down. Acuna is out again. Riley is hitting .203. The offense has posted a wRC+ of 87 since mid-May -- third-worst in baseball.
Battery Power titled their biweekly column one word: "Awful." Their own fans' outlet is admitting it.
The losses are the symptom. The silence from the front office is the disease. Twenty-six days until the deadline. Every one of them costs leverage.
Bookmark this. Come back July 30.
The Tilt
Anthopoulos's silence during the Braves' worst six-week stretch since 2023 is a bigger problem than the losses themselves.
— Dex Ponce
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