Unlike last season, when the Braves‘ season began on the West Coast with seven straight games against the Padres and Dodgers, the Braves schedule has been much more favorable to begin 2026. Something they’ve taken advantage of, bursting out to a 12-7 record and building a little cushion on top of the NL East — a stark contract from 2025, when they got behind the eight-ball at 0-7 and could never recover.
But things are about to take a sharp turn in the other direction, beginning with a three-game set in Philadelphia this weekend.
Braves Upcoming Schedule
- Phillies (x2)
- Nationals
- Dodgers
- Tigers
- Mariners
- Cubs
- Red Sox
- Rockies
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Over the next month, the Braves will meet twice with the team that has won the NL East in back-to-back seasons, the two-time defending champions in the Dodgers, along with four other playoff teams from a year ago in the Tigers, Mariners, Cubs, and Red Sox.
This is the stretch where we’ll really find out a lot about this grounp, and in particular, the starting rotation. Though the first three weeks, an argument could be made that they’ve had the best rotation in all of baseball. Grant Holmes has the current worst ERA of the entire starting five, and it’s sitting at a more than respectable 3.32-mark.
Bryce Elder has been nothing short of fantastic, recording a 0.77 ERA through his first four starts after most expected he could be on the chopping block at some point this season. Reynaldo Lopez has looked encouraging in his return from a shoulder injury that forced him to miss most of last year. Chris Sale has reminded people that he still has the ability to win another Cy Young award, and even Martin Perez has been serviceable through his first three appearances in a Braves uniform.
It’s been a frankly shocking development after all of the pitching injuries Atlanta suffered right before the start of the season, but the sustainability of that success will be put to the test in a big way over the next four weeks.
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(Photo by John Adams/Icon Sportswire)
