"The Braves are surprising to probably everyone, except maybe themselves. I thought they'd be good, but not best-team-in-baseball good. Sure, a good team can play like the best team for a month, but it's still surprising when it happens."
"Component-wise, coming into the season, the most common complaining refrain was about the rotation. I thought the rotation would be fine - maybe not great, but above-average. Through the Braves' first 26 games, the rotation is instead, 'funny' moreso than anything else."
"Albies finished 2025 with a career-low 87 wRC+, a sub-.300 xwOBA, below-average defense at second base for the third time in three years, and just 1.3 fWAR despite getting 667 PAs."
"At a surface level, joke's on me: his career looks resuscitated. He has a 126 wRC+, the lowest strikeout rate of his career, indicating a potential turnaround."
The Braves have surprised many by achieving the best record in baseball, despite initial doubts about their rotation and middle infield. The rotation has performed better than expected, ranking third in ERA- but lower in FIP- and xFIP-. Concerns about the middle infield, particularly regarding Ha-Seong Kim and Ozzie Albies, were prevalent. Albies, who had a disappointing previous season, has shown improvement with a 126 wRC+, indicating a potential resurgence in his performance despite ongoing injury issues.
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