What’s the panic meter after a disastrous start for the Braves?

The Braves disastrous start continued last night in heartbreaking fashion. It was a game nobody expected them to win in the beginning, with Bryce Elder toeing the rubber against Blake Snell, and the Braves resting half of their starters. However, the backups came to play, helping Atlanta burst out to a 5-0 lead in the second inning. Only for the Braves to watch it dwindle away, with Shohei Ohtani sending them back to Atlanta via a walk-off homer in the ninth.

There’s really no question about it: This is the worst start in Atlanta Braves franchise history. There have been teams that have started out worse, but the 2025 Braves came into the season with World Series expectations, and have watched all facets of the club falter through the first seven games.

Not to mention, one of their best starters from last season is set to undergo arthroscopic surgery, and Jurickson Profar will miss the next 80 games after getting popped for PEDs. At the very least, Reynaldo Lopez will miss multiple months, but he could be out for the remainder of the season, and though Profar can return this year, he is ineligible for the postseason.

So, what’s the panic meter for the Braves after the first week of the season?

I’m typically an optimist when it comes to the baseball team in Atlanta, because they’ve given me no reason not to be. This is a club that has seven playoff appearances, six division titles, two 100-win seasons, and a World Series under their belt over the last seven years. They’ve been the cream of the crop of baseball for nearly a decade.

The good news is there are still 155 games left in the season, and the Braves can look forward to adding back their two best players — Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider — within the next couple of months. That lowers the panic meter considerably, but acting as if there aren’t other issues is blasphemous.

The rotation, even with Spencer Strider, has concerns. Who knows what Grant Holmes and AJ Smith-Shawver can provide the rest of the season, and if another injury arises, the Braves are pretty much out of luck. Hoping this staff can avoid any kind of significant injury and perform at a high level for the next 150+ games is not realistic.

On top of that, the bullpen is in even worse shape. The losses of A.J. Minter and Joe Jimenez have played a big part in the Braves disastrous start. Frankly, the Braves not adding a reliever during the offseason after losing their top two set up men from a year ago is flat out the most braindead thing this organization has done since Alex Anthopoulos was named the GM before the start of the 2018 season.

Which leads us to the lineup. The Braves offense will be better moving forward. Much better, and if Ronald Acuña Jr. comes back at 100%, this group could be dangerous. But that’s a big if, and the loss of Jurickson Profar stings a lot, especially since Acuña isn’t expected to be back until the middle of May.

There is no aspect of the Braves that is World Series caliber right now, nothing even close to it. The addition of Acuña and Strider will help tremendously, but that’s a lot of faith in two guys that have been out for over a year. It’s going to take them coming back strong, plus some quality additions at the trade deadline, to get the Braves where they need to go. There is a legitimate reason to panic in Atlanta.

Panic Meter: 5

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Photo: David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire

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