Braves Bang Out A Win In 2026 Opener
The 2026 season is only a day old for the Atlanta Braves, and already they are ahead of last year's pace. The Braves topped visiting Kansas City by a 6-0 count on Friday night in Atlanta . In so doing, Atlanta demonstrated their recipe for success in 2026: start with some stout starting pitching, add in some offensive firepower from a few different sources, flash some fine glovework, and then employ a reliable bullpen..and voila, you have a winning baseball team.
Chris Sale was the winning pitcher, going six innings before turning things over to Atlanta's capable bullpen trio of Dodd, Suarez and Kinley who each pitched a scoreless frame to keep KC off the board.
Notably absent from that reliever group was closer Raisal Iglesias who was kept on the shelf since the Braves entered the 9th inning up by six run.. That fat lead, coupled with a goofy early season schedule that has the Braves playing thirteen games on consecutive days, kept Iglesias out of the game.
Thus new manager Walt Weiss began his strategic maneuvering to keep the 162 game big picture firmly in mind. Sale looked like Sale, not super- sharp but firmly in command. He gave up three hits while walking three, and hit one batter ( maybe). Sale was helped out by a couple of double plays and by his own good defense.
Ozzie Albies announced his presence in the new year with a first- inning solo homer to give Sale an early 1-0 lead. Drake Baldwin followed suit in the third inning, and Michael Harris added a two- run shot in the fourth.
The Braves' final two runs were driven in by shortstop- designee Mauricio Dubon who drove a double into faraway right center field in the seventh. Dubon's production not only extended the lead, but it gave Braves fans a slight taste of what it feels like to have offense from the shortstop position, something thst was almost entirely absent from the Atlanta lineup a year ago.
To top it all off, there was some flashy leather from several spots for the Bravos. Ronald Acuna and Eli White in the outfield and Austin Riley and Matt Olson in the infield all turned in defensive gems.
And so it was that Walt Weiss is now 1- 0 in his inaugural season as Atlanta's head man.
That means almost nothing in the long run, but it's certainly a welcome change from the Braves' 0-7 start in 2025 that led to their first playoff -miss in 8 years.
What does the future hold? It's all conjecture at this point, but it's nicer to say that following a comfortable win than after any loss.
In baseball, of course, momentum is the next game's starting pitcher. For Atlanta, that will be righthander Reynaldo Lopez– who is yet another Brave looking to rebound from an unsatisfying 2025.
Right now, only one thing is certain. With a game one win, Atlanta will definitely have a better record after the season's first week than they did one year ago.
Patrick Conarro
RamblinSports