This season continues to be a nightmare for the Atlanta Braves. After beginning the year as a likely playoff contender, the Braves have been a disaster on the field. The team enters play on Monday with a 64-79 record, 19.0 games behind the Phillies in the NL East and 12.0 games out of the final wild card spot.
The struggles have been widespread. The team’s big offseason addition (Jurickson Profar) was hit with an 80-game suspension immediately after the season began. Michael Harris II has seen his on-base ability decline, resulting in career-low numbers in nearly every statistical category, except for RBI. Braves shortstops have combined for an MLB-worst .533 OPS (.219/.276/.257) with just a single home run.
Attendance at games is, unsurprisingly, down.
Despite this, the club is still driving positive revenues. As one of the few publicly traded sports franchises in the country, the Braves released an earnings report to investors in August. In it, they claim an estimated $312 million in quarterly revenues, up 10% from the same period in 2024. Much of that originates from the expansive 75-acre mixed-use development surrounding Truist Park, known as The Battery, which alone generated more than $67 million in revenue last year.
Revenues generated from such mixed-use developments are not subject to MLB’s revenue-sharing rules, meaning the Braves get to keep the windfall. That might prove useful as the team looks to get back on track this offseason.
While some roster churn isn’t unusual late in the season for a struggling team, the Braves have usually been one of the most active clubs on the waiver wire. Just since the trade deadline, the team has made six waiver claims:
INF Vidal Brujan (from Baltimore, 8/8)
RHP Connor Seabold (from Tampa Bay, 8/10)
OF Jake Fraley (from Cincinnati, 8/19)
RHP Cal Quantrill (from Miami, 8/21)
INF Ha-seong Kim (from Tampa Bay, 9/1)
RHP Alexis Diaz (from Los Angeles, 9/7)
Brujan (7-for-31 in 19 games), Fraley (6-for-20 in 8 games), and Kim (5-for-17 in 5 games with a homer in his first, the only home run by a shortstop the Braves have hit all season) have been useful additions.
Seabold allowed two runs in 1.1 IP in his lone appearance before being jettisoned to Triple-A as depth. Quantrill made a pair of starts, allowing 12 runs in 8.0 IP while taking the loss in each, before the Braves released him.
Diaz will be the latest reclamation project (though there are hardly any guarantees he’s still on the roster by Opening Day, as this should be a very busy offseason in Atlanta). He’s already had a rough season himself, struggling in six appearances with the Reds before a late-May trade to the Dodgers. His subpar performance continued in Los Angeles, prompting a move to Triple-A, where the results weren’t much better.
Raleigh, Rodríguez reach new marks
Sunday’s game in Atlanta between the Mariners and Braves — an 18-2 drubbing by the Mariners — marked a day of milestones for Seattle.
Julio Rodríguez doubled and stole third base in the third inning. It was his 25th steal of the season (and 25th double), giving him three seasons of 25+ home runs and 25+ stolen bases before turning 25 years old. Only one other player has matched that feat: Darryl Strawberry.
Cal Raleigh also homered in the ninth inning, his 53rd of the season, which gives him the record for the most home runs all-time by a catcher in any pro league. Katsuya Nomura held the previous mark, hitting 52 homers for the NPB’s Nankai Hawks (now Fukuoka Softbank Hawks) in 1963.
Nomura was an NPB legend and one of the greatest offensive catchers in league history, becoming the first hitter to win the Triple Crown and winning five Pacific League MVP Awards over his 26-year career. Nomura batted .277/.357/.508 with 657 homers and 1,988 RBI (both second in NPB history).
Nomura was also player-manager for the last eight seasons of his playing career, before remaining at the helm in the dugout for another 16 seasons. His 1,565 wins over his 24-year managerial career rank fifth all-time in the NPB.
Katsunori Nomura spent parts of eight seasons as a depth player in the NPB, but was hardly the hitter his father was, hitting just four homers and batting .185/.237/.261 in 386 PA. He’s currently a coach with the Hanshin Tigers.
Don Nomura is likely a more familiar name for many MLB fans. Nomura was the agent responsible for discovering the loophole in NPB roster rules that allowed Hideo Nomo and Alfonso Soriano to jump to the major leagues. He has since advised Japanese players through the posting and free agent process, including Hideki Irabu, Yu Darvish, Kenta Maeda, and many others in the decades since. He is the stepson of the NPB Hall of Fame catcher.
Kershaw with another milestone
There isn’t much Clayton Kershaw has left to accomplish on the diamond. Still, the legendary left-hander was able to cross another milestone off the list on Sunday. Kershaw started for the Dodgers in Baltimore, allowing a pair of runs over 5.2 IP to collect his 10th win of the season.
The outing marked the first time Kershaw has faced the Orioles in his career, meaning he’s now pitched against every team in the league aside from the Dodgers.
He has also now pitched in every active MLB stadium — though it’s worth noting his two appearances at Texas’s Globe Life Field both came during the 2020 postseason, with one start against the Padres in the NLDS and one against the Rays in the World Series.