Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. remained in MVP form on Monday. That’s excellent news for a Braves team in desperate need of something to celebrate.
Hours after announcing that ace Chris Sale (fractured rib) had been moved to the injured list without a timetable for return, Acuna, playing in his 28th game after recovering from a torn ACL in April 2024, went 2-of-5 with a home run in a 3-2 win over the New York Mets.
This season, Acuna has an eye-popping .396/.500/.713 slash line with nine home runs.
The Braves (36-41) lost their first seven games this season and have been playing catch-up ever since. On June 8, they fell a season-high 10 games below .500 after another seven-game losing streak dropped their record to 27-37.
Atlanta is 9-4 over its last 13 games and has a plus-25 run differential overall, which translates to a 41-35 Pythagorean win-loss record, suggesting it has significantly underperformed during the season’s first half.
Sale’s injury is another setback, but the way Acuna is playing, he might be able to will the Braves back to relevancy.
Acuna looks as sharp as he did when receiving 2023 NL MVP honors. That season, the eight-year veteran slashed .337/.416/.596 with 41 home runs and MLB-highs in hits (217), runs (149) and stolen bases (73).
Entering Monday, the Braves were 11 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies (47-31) for first in the NL East and seven behind the Milwaukee Brewers (43-35) for the league’s last wild-card.
Baseball Reference gives them a slight 10.6% chance to reach the postseason, so the odds are against the Braves turning things around. But as hot as Acuna is, anything’s possible.
