ATLANTA -- The Braves’ mighty offense was subdued by Kerry Wood and Mark Prior in 2003. Atlanta’s 2023 lineup was likened to the 1927 Yankees during the regular season and then looked more like the 1988 Braves.
So, this year’s showing wasn’t necessarily the most disappointing or even statistically the worst postseason performance we’ve seen from an Atlanta offense. But it was every bit as painful to watch.
The Braves hit .183, scored 22 runs and produced a .609 OPS over seven playoff games. They hit .145, scored eight runs and constructed .501 OPS over four games against the Dodgers in the National League Division Series.
That’s ugly, but should we have been surprised?
Through the end of May, the Braves ranked second among MLB teams in runs scored and third with 109 Weighted Runs Created Plus. With 100 being the baseline, this means their production was nine percent better than league average.
Over the season’s final four months, Atlanta ranked 28th among 30 MLB teams with 90 wRC+. This means its production was 10 percent worse than league average.
So, unlike recent postseasons, this year’s ugly October was actually just an extension of an ugly offensive summer.
What happened?
wRC+ through May 31: Drake Baldwin (156), Matt Olson (137), Michael Harris II (137), Ronald Acuña Jr. (128), Ozzie Albies (109), Mauricio Dubón (88) and Austin Riley (79)
wRC+ from June 1-Sept. 27: Olson (112), Harris (112), Baldwin (110), Dubón (105), Riley (82), Albies (73)
Unfortunately, Riley’s tremendous struggles stood as one of this offense’s only consistencies throughout the season.
A couple things to note before digging into the postseason numbers.
- Baldwin struggled mightily for a few weeks after missing about a month with a right oblique strain. But his 136 wRC+ after the break was more in line with his production during the first two months.
- Acuña missed most of June and July with a left hamstring strain. So, he wasn’t listed among the qualified players from June 1–Sept. 27 above. But he did have a 118 wRC+ after the All-Star break.
So, what went right during the playoffs?
This can be summed up by pointing out Harris (1.115) and Albies (1.067) were the only qualified Braves to produce an OPS above .513. That’s not a misprint. Sean Murphy had a .933 OPS, but he logged just 12 plate appearances over four games.
Twenty-three MLB players have logged at least 20 plate appearances during this postseason. The Braves account for five of the seven worst marks: Riley (.513), Dubón (.507), Olson (.459), Acuña (.425) and Baldwin (.348).
How bad was this historically?
There have been 26 players who have posted an OPS of .515 or lower while logging at least 20 plate appearances in a single postseason for the Braves. This list included just 21 players before this year.
In terms of franchise history, the .609 OPS produced by this year’s Braves was far from the worst produced in any postseason during which the team totaled 140 plate appearances or more.
The worst was the .477 OPS produced by the 2010 club. Maybe, it wasn’t just Brooks Conrad’s fault.
The 2023 club set a NL/AL record by producing a .501 slugging percentage during the regular season. It produced a .519 OPS over four games against the Phillies. The 2003 club that included Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Gary Sheffield and Javy Lopez constructed a .607 OPS against Wood, Prior and the rest of the Cubs’ pitching staff.
Why does this feel like a trend?
Here is the OPS produced by each Braves player who has logged at least 40 postseason plate appearances while the team has gone 5-12 in playoff games going back to 2022: Albies (.792), Harris (.748), Olson (.641), Riley (.596), Acuña (.555).
Riley ranks 83rd out of 103 MLB players who have logged at least 55 postseason plate appearances within this span. Acuña ranks 91st, seven spots ahead of Ha-Seong Kim, who went 0-for-5 with a pair of walks for the Braves this postseason.
Final thoughts
Harris created further reason to believe he could gain superstar status over the next few years, and Albies’ productive postseason at least allowed him to distance himself from his second-half woes.
Riley’s homer off Phillies closer Jhoan Duran in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series was the postseason’s top offensive moment for the Braves. But this didn’t prevent him from ending the worst season of his career in frustrating fashion. He went 1-for-19 with seven strikeouts over the remainder of the playoffs.
Everything is magnified in the postseason, and the game’s best pitchers often serve as the competition. The 2021 Braves were up to the challenge. The club’s four playoff teams that have followed have simply enhanced Atlanta’s postseason woes.