The 2026 Atlanta Braves season ended on a sour note Wednesday. A 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLDS officially knocked the team out of the postseason. It is hard to swallow that a 94-win season and an NL East title ended like this. The club bounced back from a bad 2025, but the job just wasn’t finished.
Since the 2021 World Series win, the team has struggled to find postseason success. According to CBS Sports, the franchise has only won one playoff series since that title, which was this year’s Wild Card Series. The team has a 5-12 record in the playoffs since that championship. While the club added 18 wins to their total from last year, the early exit leaves a lot of questions for the front office.
The Decline of Austin Riley
The biggest worry for the future involves the middle of the lineup. Austin Riley is signed through 2032, but his recent numbers look scary. Between 2021 and 2023, he was a top 10 finisher in the NL MVP race for three straight years. Now, the production is disappearing. CBS Sports reported that his OPS+ dropped to 115 in 2024 and 105 in 2025. This past season, that number cratered to 80, which is 20% worse than the league average.
It isn’t just bad luck, either. His strikeout and whiff rates are climbing. If the third baseman keeps sliding down this path, the long-term contract becomes a massive burden. We need the old Riley back to keep this window open.
Uncertainty in the Front Office
Alex Anthopoulos has built a great core with long-term deals, but cracks are showing. While some players remain stable, the decline of key contributors makes the next few years look shaky. There is also the issue of the CBA negotiations. The uncertainty surrounding those talks makes planning for 2027 much harder for the team. We can only hope the ownership group keeps spending to fix these gaps.
The 2026 season was a success in many ways under manager Walt Weiss. The team was healthier than it was in 2025 and won the division. However, the Dodgers proved that a great regular season doesn’t mean much if you can’t win the big games.
