The lid of the coffin isn’t sealed shut, but it’s resting in place ready for the final nails.
The Braves begin this week in fourth place in the National League East, 12.5 games back of the first-place Phillies and 10.5 games back of a possible wild-card bid. There are five teams between the Braves and the final wild-card spot currently held by both the Padres and Mets.
With a 43-55 record, the Braves begin a three-game series against the Giants on Monday at Truist Park. They need to go on a torrid run of winning baseball between now and the end of September, but as the calendar has continued to inch forward, the likelihood of said run is becoming less and less plausible.
“When everything starts to click — this team won a World Series in ’21, you know?” Braves starting pitcher Grant Holmes argued on behalf of keeping the faith. “There’s some pitchers that aren’t pitching right now, but the hitters are relatively the same. The one through nine’s got some really good players with (Ronald) Acuña and (Matt Olson) and (Austin) Riley coming back soon. We get on that run and it’s gonna be pretty good.”
To Holmes’ point, the Braves offense has seemingly turned a bit of a corner, even with Riley (abdominal strain) on the 10-day injured list until at least Tuesday. That unit scored nearly six runs per game over the past six, and that included being shut down by Yankees starter Marcus Stroman in Sunday’s 4-2 loss.