Apr 1, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker (43) pulls starting pitcher Chris Sale (51) in the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
I decided to stay up late last night to watch the Braves take on the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
Part of me was intrigued if the Dodgers could keep their perfect season going into a seventh game.
The other part of me wanted to figure out what the hell is wrong with the Braves?
After all, Atlanta was my preseason prediction to win the World Series, and here we are, a week into the new season and they're the only team in baseball without a win.
It didn't get any better for the Phillies chief rival in the N.L. East.
They mustered all of three hits and lost to the Dodgers 3-1, falling to 0-6 for the season.
My crystal ball may have cracked at that point, as no team has ever started 0-6 and gone on to win the World Series.
Hey, there's a first time for everything, right?
My predictive soul can take solace in the fact that teams have started 0-6 before and still made the playoffs - three of them in fact. And all of them in my lifetime (barely).
Those teams:
The Rays actually started 1-8, and somehow had a winning record by the end of April (15-12). This was the year where they made it into the playoffs on a wild last day of the regular season, clinching a berth on a walkoff homer by Evan Longoria.
Today marks 7 years since Evan Longoria capped the greatest day in @RaysBaseball history with a walk off HR to send TB to the playoffs. 9 games out in Sep., they are the greatest comeback team in history. No team has ever came from that far back that late. https://t.co/r74jN9MdFQ
The Rays finished 91-71, which is impressive, considering the slow start, but were bounced in the Division Series in four games by the eventual AL champion Texas Rangers.
It was a weird year in 1995 with a player's strike delaying the start of the season. The Reds started 0-6, and like the Rays were 1-8, before turning their season around.
They finished the year 85-59 and won the newly formed N.L. Central. The swept the Dodgers in the Division series but then were swept themselves by the eventual World Series-winning Braves.
The 1974 Pirates may be the most encouraging example for the Braves. They were a team full of talented players who started 0-6 and were a dreadful 18-32 in June before turning it around and winning the N.L. East with a record of 88-74.
Their momentum didn't carry over, and they lost the NLCS to the Dodgers in four games (it was a best-of-5 back then).
So, there's precedent. And even last year, the New York Mets started 0-5 and reached the NLCS - even beating the Phillies along the way.
Sure these Braves have had some early-season turmoil. Reynaldo Lopez, who was one of their best pitchers last year, needs arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder, and will miss most of the season.
Catcher Sean Murphy fractured his ribs in Spring Training, forcing the Braves to turn to prospect catcher Derek Baldwin to be the go-to guy behind the plate.
And free agent acquisition Jurickson Profar was suspended by MLB for 80 games for performance enhancing drugs.
Couple that with the fact that they still don't have either Spencer Strider or Ronald Acuna Jr. for a few more weeks, and that they played two very good teams on the road to start the season, and, well, it's not hard to see why they've lost every game so far.
The concerning thing for their fans is, they've been outscored 26-9 in those six games. Nine runs in six games is unconscionably bad.
Imagine if that happened here? Fans in Philly start overreacting after a 1-2-3 inning.
The Phillies Stink! pic.twitter.com/LRkbzLrkV3
But, the Braves are far too talented for this to persist for long. At the end of the day, they will be in the mix. It might be to the Phillies advantage that they are building a cushion on them in the standings now, but the Braves will be in the thick of the playoff race by the end of the season.
And it's not just me saying that.
"They're not going to end up where they are now, I guarantee it," said Phillies manager Rob Thomson. "There's going to be a time where almost every team is going to lose five or six in a row, right? It just so happened for them at the start of the season and everybody blows it up and (people are saying) 'they're done.' Come on. Enough."
They're going to get two All-Stars back soon in Strider and Acuna, Jr. and the rest of that offense isn't going to stay moribund. Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies, Marcel Ozuna, Matt Olson and Michael Harris are pretty formidable.
I won't be able to watch them play tonight, as the game will start while the Phillies are still playing, so by the time I get home, it'll be over. Will they be 0-7 by then? Or will they finally win a game?
It doesn't matter. Either way, the Braves will be there at the end of the season. Trust me... and Rob Thomson.
