The 2025 Atlanta Braves finished fourth in the NL East at 76-86, ten games under .500, and missed the postseason for the first time in seven years. The front office did not blow it up. It kept the core and changed little for 2026.
Through 40 games, that decision looks good. The Braves were 27-13, their best start since they were known as the Beaneaters. They led the division by eight games over the Nationals and nine over the Phillies.
Hitters who bounced back
The roster has few new names, so the gains come from players who had bad years in 2025.
Mauricio Dubon, who left the Astros in the offseason, has been Atlanta’s best hitter with runners in scoring position: 11 hits and 18 RBIs. His OPS is .746, up more than 100 points from .644 last year, and he already has two triples, more than in the previous two seasons combined.
Ozzie Albies had the worst OPS of his career last year at .671. This year it is .883. He hit 16 home runs in all of 2025 across 157 games, and has hit half that many in 40 games. Michael Harris II had a .678 OPS in 2025 and has pushed it to .868, with 1.3 fWAR and a 141 wRC+ in his first 37 games.
Olson leads the way
Matt Olson, 32, is the biggest reason, according to Sports Illustrated’s Karl Rasmussen. The first baseman leads the team with 13 home runs, a 1.025 OPS, 2.3 fWAR and a 178 wRC+, each of them top five in the majors. He has played 821 consecutive games, and looks like the version of himself that hit 53 home runs and drove in 139 in 2023, when he finished fourth in NL MVP voting.
Pitching holds up through injuries
Atlanta’s team ERA of 3.17 ranks second in the majors, and its 20 quality starts are tied for second. That is despite Spencer Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawer and Hurston Waldrep being on the injured list.
Chris Sale, 37, has a 2.20 ERA and 56 strikeouts in eight starts. Reynaldo Lopez is pitching well after missing nearly all of last season. Bryce Elder had ERAs of 6.52 and 5.30 the past two years; through eight starts he sits at 2.02, with his home run rate cut from 1.38 per nine innings to 0.55 and his strikeout rate up from 19.3 percent to 23.1.
The bullpen’s 3.26 ERA is second only to the Rangers’ 2.84, and the Braves have converted 13 of 16 save chances. Dylan Lee, Robert Suarez and Raisel Iglesias each have an ERA under 1.00 and a walk rate under 3.5 percent.
