This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ATLANTA -- The Braves won the 2021 World Series without Ronald Acuña Jr., and then they tallied a MLB-best 104 wins last year while getting just 21 combined starts from Max Fried and Kyle Wright.

With its latest magic act, Atlanta has produced the National League’s highest winning percentage (.700) despite already putting three All-Stars on the injured list.

Cy Young Award candidate Spencer Strider made one healthy start before suffering a season-ending right elbow injury. All-Star catcher Sean Murphy has been sidelined since straining his left oblique on Opening Day. And Ozzie Albies has missed the past five games with a fractured right big toe that will sideline him until at least Friday night.

But it’s been business as usual for Braves manager Brian Snitker’s bunch.

“The good thing about this club is we don’t get into the ‘Woe is me’ type of thing when we lose somebody,” Snitker said. “They don’t sit around and feel sorry for themselves.”

Strider’s injury will obviously have the greatest impact over the remainder of the season. Along with not being able to rely on one of the game’s top starters, the Braves must fill those innings while remaining cognizant of the workloads of Chris Sale and Reynaldo López, neither of whom has experienced a full season as a starter since 2019.

The schedule has helped the Braves give Sale and López extra rest thus far. But it’s not like either of these two hurlers are being reined in during their outings. López has completed exactly six innings in each of his first three starts. Sale worked into the sixth in both of his first two starts, then completed seven innings in his past two starts.

Quite honestly, they aren’t the starters the Braves need to worry about right now.

Number of starts with at least 5 1/3 innings completed this year:

Chris Sale: 4
Charlie Morton: 4
Reynaldo López: 3
Max Fried: 1

Fried should be able to turn things around and do his part to help Snitker keep his relievers fresh. The Braves might also gain some stability from Bryce Elder, who is coming up from Triple-A Gwinnett to start Monday’s series opener against the Marlins. Elder will attempt to compensate for Strider’s absence, much like he successfully compensated for the absences of Fried and Wright last year.

Elder’s arrival also provides at least one extra day of rest for each of the other starters before their next turn in the rotation. Fried will be working with an additional day of rest when he starts on Tuesday night. López will enter Wednesday’s start with two extra days. Sale and Morton will also have two extra days of rest when they start against the Guardians this weekend.

There might not be an immediate need for extra rest. But the off-days gained at this time of year will go a long way toward giving Sale and López every opportunity to be strong and healthy down the stretch.

Murphy’s absence has only highlighted how valuable Travis d'Arnaud has been. Sure, the veteran catcher turned into Babe Ruth as he enjoyed a three-homer game on Friday and then added another home run in Saturday’s 5-2 win. But even before this power surge, he remained the same clubhouse leader, game planner and signal caller he has been since he joined the Braves in 2020.

Oblique injuries can create lingering issues if a player comes back too early, much like Brian McCann did in 2011. The Braves will take their time with Murphy, who still hasn’t been cleared to begin swinging a bat. It’s looking like his return could come after the calendar flips to May.

As for Albies, he might miss just three more games. The toe fracture he suffered on April 15 hasn’t limited him over the past few days. The switch-hitting second baseman hasn’t been cleared to swing a bat yet, but he was wearing spikes while he participated in fielding drills on Sunday.