Five contests is a small sample in a 162-game season. So, it’s important to not blow out of proportion the start to the 2025 season for the Atlanta Braves.
Having said that, it’s hard to imagine a worst start to the season for the Braves, and with their 0-5 record, it’s more than fair to be growing concerned about the team being a serious World Series contender.
It will now take an historic Braves season just to make the playoffs.
The AJC’s Justin Toscano reported late during the Braves’ game Monday night that with an 0-5 start, the Braves would hold that record after five games for just the seventh time in franchise history. The previous six Braves teams that were 0-5 to begin a season all failed to make the playoffs.
If the Braves lose and fall to 0-5, it’ll be the seventh time in modern-era franchise history (since 1900) that they have started 0-5 or worse. None of those teams made the postseason.
Longest season-opening losing streak for a Braves playoff team is four games, done twice.
— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) April 1, 2025
The Braves are 0-5 due to a surprisingly slow offensive start. The team has played 45 innings this season. They’ve scored a run in only six of them.
Finally, the Braves snapped a 29-consecutive innings scoreless streak in the eighth inning Monday. The team hadn’t scored a single run since Friday.
Ending the scoreless streak was about the only positive for the Braves on the last day of March. Before first pitch, the team lost outfielder Jurickson Profar to a PED suspension and starting pitcher Reynaldo López to the 10-day injury list.
If there’s a silver lining, the 2025 Braves will find the mountain a little less steep to the postseason than the franchise’s previous 0-5 teams.
MLB’s expanded playoff field makes it easier to overcome bad starts. There weren’t even four playoff teams in a couple of the seasons when the Braves started 0-5 previously let alone six.
Last season, the Braves made the playoffs with an 89-73 record. They now need to finish 89-68 to end the year with the same record as last season. That’s a .567 win percentage that a team with Atlanta’s talent is more than capable of doing.
But there’s no denying that the Braves are off to a horrendous start. It will take something the Braves have never done in their history to just make the postseason.
