The Atlanta Braves are in the midst of a seven-game skid, a stretch that has become all too familiar in their inconsistent season.
For the second time this season, the Braves have dropped seven straight games, prompting questions about whether one of the league’s top teams, on paper, is headed for a rare losing season.
Atlanta’s 4-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday put them nine and a half games behind the National League’s last Wild Card spot and 10 games below .500. Although it is too early to rule out the Braves this season, they cannot afford to have many more setbacks. The team has not missed the postseason since 2017.
MLB Insider Loses Faith in the Atlanta Braves
In a recent episode of Foul Territory, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal weighed in on the whole Braves situation.
Rosenthal said, “What has happened to them is unexpected, and it’s borderline shocking; this is a team with seven straight playoff appearances.”
“2021 World Series champions. I picked them to be back at the World Series this year again, and I thought they were that good; they are not! This is a team that has lost seven straight games,” Rosenthal added.
After starting the season 0–7, it took Atlanta nearly six weeks to climb back to a .500 record. But a seven-game losing streak this past week has erased all that progress.
The fourth-place Atlanta Braves are only 2.5 games up on the Marlins in the NL East. 😳
“What has happened to them is unexpected, and it’s borderline shocking,” says @Ken_Rosenthal. pic.twitter.com/4zSfu4ZfZc
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) June 9, 2025
Five of those losses have been by a single run, including Thursday’s horrifying collapse at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks, where the Braves’ bullpen allowed seven runs in the ninth inning.
Rosenthal blames the players’ underperformance rather than the front office. Atlanta made the playoffs a year ago despite injuries to ace Spencer Strider and former National League MVP Ronald Acuña Jr.
Both of them are back, but Strider has lost all five of his starts on the mound, while Acuña has returned nicely.
After becoming the first player in MLB history to tally at least 40 home runs and 70 stolen bases in a single season, Acuña was named the 2023 NL MVP. But on May 26, 2024, his season came to an abrupt end with a torn ACL.
The Braves’ game against the San Diego Padres on Friday, May 23, was Acuña’s first return to the field in almost a year. In the bottom of the first inning, Acuña led off for the Braves and went yard on the first pitch that Padres starter Nick Pivetta threw.
The Braves were expected to bounce back from their slow start with the return of Acuña and Strider. Instead, the season has taken a very different turn.