Spring has sprung, which means it’s time to preview the 2025 MLB season.
A lot could still change between now and league-wide Opening Day on March 27, but let’s begin with a look at the landscape of the National League East.
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Atlanta Braves
Projected record (per FanGraphs, as of March 10): 93-69, 92.6% odds to make the playoffs, 62.0% odds to win the division
What happened last year? The injury gods cast decimation and destruction upon the Atlanta Braves, as reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr., hard-throwing ace Spencer Strider and a cavalcade of other regulars spent significant time on the shelf. A career year from DH Marcell Ozuna and a Cy Young-winning bounce-back from Chris Sale squeaked the Braves into a playoff spot before a wild-card round sweep defeat against the San Diego Padres sent Atlanta packing.
Best-case scenario: Acuña and Strider, two of the game’s best players in 2023, come back with a vengeance. The rest of Atlanta’s still-loaded core — Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies, Sean Murphy, Michael Harris, Ozuna, Sale, Matt Olson, Jurickson Profar, Orlando Arcia, Reynaldo Lopez and Spencer Schwellenbach, who have all performed at an All-Star level in one or both of the past two seasons — stays healthy and productive. The Braves win 110 games and the World Series.
Worst-case scenario: Atlanta sinks to fourth place as injuries expose a concerning lack of organizational depth. Acuña, like the last time he returned from ACL surgery in 2022, needs a few months to recapture his electrifying best. The enormous uptick in year-over-year innings for Atlanta’s three best returning arms — Sale (70 more in ‘24), Lopez (69 more), Schwellenbach (58 more) — works on a tape delay to undermine the rotation. The catching situation, a key dynamic in this era of Braves baseball, struggles with the departure of Travis d’Arnaud and the recent injury to Sean Murphy. Blooper, the team’s confrontational mascot, is indicted for tax fraud and ends up serving a year in the slammer.
Make-or-break player: Chris Sale. It was a magical 2024 for the limbed-out lefty. After a half-decade of injuries, the sidewinder came roaring back in his age-35 season to lead the league in strikeouts, post a 2.38 ERA in 177 2/3 innings and earn his first career Cy Young. But can he do it again? Because, well, the Braves kinda need him to. A healthy Chris…