Austin Riley Shares What Must Change Following Atlanta Braves Postseason Exit

The Atlanta Braves are heading into the offseason with a lot of uncertainty surrounding Austin Riley and his future. He had an awful year, both in the regular season and the MLB playoffs.

Riley did not hide his frustration after Atlanta was eliminated by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS, taking accountability for a 2026 season that fell well short of what he and the organization expected.

"I have to be better. I was terrible all year. I had some stretches where I showed life, but this is a game of consistency and it wasn't that this year," Riley said, according to Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Riley finished the regular season hitting .219 with 19 home runs, 72 RBIs and a .654 OPS across 159 games. He also struck out 201 times, a career high. After several seasons as one of Atlanta's most productive hitters, he could not find the same consistency at the plate.

The drop-off was huge. Riley hit .303 with 33 home runs and 107 RBIs in 2021, then followed with 38 homers in 2022 and 37 in 2023. He earned consecutive All-Star selections in 2022 and 2023 and established himself as one of the better third basemen in the National League. That earned him the largest contract in Braves history, a 10-year, $212 million deal that the front office is still on the hook for.

The decline over the past three seasons has been hard to ignore. Riley played 110 games in 2024 after fracturing his right hand, then appeared in 102 games in 2025 while dealing with an abdominal injury. He hit 16 home runs last year before hitting just 19 in 2026, though he at least managed to appear in 159 games. 

Riley finished the NLDS hitting .091, going 2-for-22 with seven strikeouts as the Dodgers won the series in four games. Atlanta's season ended with a 4-1 loss in Game 4.

The Braves need Riley to return to form. His power used to be a key part of this lineup for years, and replacing that production would be extremely difficult considering how much of the payroll he is taking up.

Staying healthy in 2026 was an encouraging sign after two injury-disrupted seasons, but durability alone was not enough to offset the decline in production. Riley knows that, and he said it himself.

Atlanta won the NL East with a 94-68 record and still could not advance to the NLCS Getting Riley back to the level he was at in 2021, 2022 and 2023 would be huge for this team's 2027 outlook. That player simply may not exist anymore though.