Why the Braves' path to October baseball starts in the training room

Many Atlanta Braves fans would love to forget about the 2025 season. It was the first time since the 2017 season that they failed to make the postseason. 

Injuries played a big role in their lackluster season. A ton of pitchers missed time, and the core of Ronald Acuña Jr., Austin Riley, and Ozzie Albies also made trips to the IL. 

And while the club thought they got rid of the injury bug, it has stayed with them through the offseason. A few weeks after signing Ha-Seong Kim, it would be revealed that he would miss the first few months of the season after he had to have surgery to repair a torn tendon in his finger after slipping and falling on ice. 

MORE: Braves reportedly lost bidding war to Mets for Cy Young-caliber arm, NL wins leader, 2X All-Star

Why the Braves' path to October baseball starts in the training room

Fast forward to last week, and pitchers Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurtston Waldrop were moved to the 60-day IL, needing surgeries to remove loose bodies in their elbows. 

That is quite a few injuries to sustain before even getting halfway through Spring Training. This puts the pressure on the rest of the core to stay healthy, and if they do, Bleacher Report's Tim Kelly believes they can blow past their 76-win season from 2025. 

"There's just too much talent on this team to think they won't at least improve from 76 games. There are injury concerns in the lineup as well, but when healthy, a group of Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson, Austin Riley, Drake Baldwin, Ozzie Albies, Jurickson Profar, and Michael Harris II should lead the Braves back to playoff contention in 2026."

A division title could be hard to grasp with what the New York Mets did over the offseason, and you can never rule out the Philadelphia Phillies. But if they can limit how much their star players miss games, there is too much talent on this team to consistently lose games.

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