FanSided Wrote a Warning About the Braves Using Their Own Best Argument Against Themselves

FanSided spent an entire column warning you not to trust the best team in baseball. Their own evidence proves them wrong.

The piece is called "Why MLB's best team, the Atlanta Braves, needs to be taken with a grain of salt." You can read it here. The argument: 8 teams were first to 40 wins in MLB from 2022–2025, and none of them won the World Series. Zero for eight. It's a real stat. I'm not going to pretend it isn't.

Here's the problem. The best comparable FanSided finds for these Braves — in terms of team BA, run differential profile, and pitching-first approach — is the 2023 Texas Rangers.

The Rangers won the World Series.

FanSided literally found the team that best matches the Braves, pointed at it as a cautionary tale, and waved away the fact that those Rangers took the trophy home. That's not analysis. That's a warning label on a winning lottery ticket.

I'm 85% sure these Braves are the best team in baseball. Here's what FanSided's own piece concedes before telling you to be nervous: 44-21, best record in MLB. Chris Sale, 2.23 ERA over 12 starts. A bullpen running a 3.05 ERA — 2nd in all of baseball, best in the National League. A road record of 23-10 that makes the schedule-strength argument evaporate on contact.

FanSided acknowledges every single one of those things. Then waves the 0-for-8 flag anyway.

Eight teams. Four years. Wildly different roster profiles, injury situations, and playoff draws. That's the sample they're indicting a 44-win team with. In June.

FanSided needed something to write about on June 1st. Atlanta needed another W.

Receipts filed. Check back in October.