Braves Now Treading Water Due To Ozzie Albies Injury

Braves Treading Water

The 2024 MLB season has not exactly gone to plan for the Atlanta Braves, who were one of the most feared teams in baseball last season. Coming into the year, many believed that the Braves would be at the top of the standings once again with the amount of talent that they brought to the table.

Unfortunately for them, and for the fans, that has not been the case to this point. They are 54-44 on the season, which is still 10 games above .500 to be fair, but the expectations for this team were FAR higher than that in 2024.

The biggest reason for this disappointment has been the amount of injuries that the team has suffered this season to important, game-changing players. They lost their ace, RHP Spencer Strider, almost immediately as the year began. Then, superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. went down for the season to injury, which robbed them of their most impactful bat.

Now, it appears that Ozzie Albies will be out for the foreseeable future with a fractured wrist, further decimating their lineup that has struggled this season to produce runs.

Not Giving Up

Even with all of their injuries, it is very clear that Atlanta has not given up on the season yet. They just signed Whitt Merrifield, who was let go by their rival Phillies not even a month ago. He's not even close to the same player that he once was, and he has been bad this season, but signing him is a low-risk/high-reward type of deal. I would expect that the Braves will be very active at the trade deadline in acquiring some talent. This is still a team that has aspirations of winning a title in 2024.

Atlanta is 8.5 games behind Philly, which is quite a bit, but it certainly is not impossible to catch up to them. We still have half the season to go, and I expect that the Braves will be right there at the end.

Futures Odds

If you want to take a shot that the Braves will upgrade at the trade deadline and make a push in the second half of the season, you can get some great prices right now. The Phillies are currently -800 to win the NL East, and you can get the Braves at 5/1 odds right now to come back and win it. Even with all of their struggles, they are still third in the NL in odds to win the league, sitting at +475. They are more likely to win the NL than their division, according to oddsmakers.

You'll find them in fifth for odds to win the World Series, and you can get them at 9/1 right now to do so.