{"id":844303,"date":"2026-09-11T16:41:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T16:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/844303\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T16:41:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T16:41:17","slug":"the-braves-need-matt-olson-and-their-offense-to-find-a-spark-against-the-phillies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/844303\/","title":{"rendered":"The Braves need Matt Olson and their offense to find a spark against the Phillies"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTA \u2014 In a loss on Wednesday, the usually upbeat Mauricio Dub\u00f3n snapped his bat over his thigh after lining out for the last out. A few days ago in Philadelphia, the typically calm Matt Olson slammed his helmet on a few occasions as his own struggles continued.<\/p>\n

Dub\u00f3n and Olson are leaders in the Atlanta Braves\u2019 clubhouse, and their actions reflected the offense\u2019s struggles. The Braves had only scored three runs across three games on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. They entered Thursday on the verge of getting swept by the Tampa Bay Rays, who hold the best record in the American League.<\/p>\n

Things didn\u2019t look that great for much of the game on Thursday, either, until in a matter of four swings, Atlanta mustered enough momentum for a 3-1 win.<\/p>\n

Whatever spark the Braves offense created, the club better hope it keeps smoldering during another pivotal weekend for the National League playoff picture. The Braves will host the Philadelphia Phillies for a three-game series that starts Friday. As was the case when these two teams met last weekend, the Braves hold a four-game lead in the NL East.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou learn a lot about yourself and good competition,\u201d said Braves hitting coach Tim Hyers. \u201cThose aces that we\u2019ve been facing \u2014 it\u2019s challenging, and hopefully we\u2019ve learned from some of the guys we faced recently, and we\u2019ll be better for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The entire Braves offense struggled, but it\u2019s especially felt from first baseman Olson. He has endured a miserable stretch over the last week, going 3-for-23 (.130) over his last seven games. The slump has sapped the power that has defined his offensive game, with no extra-base hits and just one RBI during that span.<\/p>\n

Even though he limited the strikeouts over the weekend against Tampa Bay, Olson hasn\u2019t driven a ball for extra-base hits since Sept. 1. It\u2019s caused his batting average to dip to .248 with a .826 OPS.<\/p>\n

Olson\u2019s swing had gotten slightly out of sync, particularly with his swing plane and posture. But over the last couple of nights, he has made adjustments in both areas, helping him get his swing back on track.<\/p>\n

Out of 26 of the Braves hard-hit balls against the Rays, they only recorded six hits. Drake Baldwin, accounted for two of them, both being home runs. Olson had another one, a single off Nick Martinez on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The hope is that Olson can tap back into the power, that even despite the recent struggles, ranks fifth in home runs (37) and third in extra-base hits (70) in MLB.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s our catalyst,\u201d Hyers said. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that we depend on, and we wouldn\u2019t be where we are today without him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Olson has endured a miserable stretch over the last week, going 3-for-23 (.130) over his last seven games. (Brett Davis \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

And it isn\u2019t just Olson. Since Sept 1, Ozzie Albies, Austin Riley, Michael Harris II and Dub\u00f3n are a combined 20-for-122. Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr., who hadn\u2019t looked like the version the Braves are accustomed to seeing, is suddenly holding it down as he\u2019s hitting .333 with three home runs and nine RBIs this month.<\/p>\n

But the Braves\u2019 offensive woes have leaked into the second half. Since Aug. 1, their .680 OPS ranks 25th, 131 runs rank 29th and 38 homers rank 18th. That has left the starters with little support. Since Monday\u2019s 2-0 loss to the Phillies, where the Braves were held to a complete-game shutout by Luzardo, Braves starters have only had four runs of support.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also been a rough scheduling stretch for the Braves, as four of their six last opponents have been the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Rays and Phillies. Those rotations have the second, sixth, seventh and 11th best ERAs in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to have a good offense,\u201d Baldwin said. \u201cI think (Wednesday), some of the stuff in the box didn\u2019t exactly show all the at-bats we had. It felt like we put some good swings on balls, just happened to go right at people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Against Philadelphia, Atlanta is lining up Chris Sale, Tyler Mahle and Grant Holmes. The Phillies will roll out their best as well: Jes\u00fas Luzardo, Aaron Nola and Andrew Painter.<\/p>\n

Now, the Atlanta offense needs to return the favor if they want to make up for the missed opportunities to build ground in between this series. Their next two opponents after the Phillies are the Chicago Cubs, who are a game behind the top NL Wild Card spot, and the Houston Astros clinging to a three-game lead in the AL West. The Braves will get the potent version of each opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re facing good teams, so every at-bat is that much harder,\u201d Baldwin said Wednesday. \u201cThis is the type of people that we want to face in October. So, (it\u2019s about) getting to go through the stretch and fight our way out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 In a loss on Wednesday, the usually upbeat Mauricio Dub\u00f3n snapped his bat over his thigh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2111,363,99],"class_list":["post-844303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}