John Smoltz Speaks on What the 2026 Atlanta Braves Can Be

The Atlanta Braves have been one of the biggest stories in the 2026 MLB season.

They sit at 40-20 through 60 games with the best record in all of Major League Baseball, holding a comfortable 9.5-game lead in the NL East over both the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals.

The turnaround from a year ago has been striking, especially considering how different things looked twelve months ago.

Atlanta's 2025 season fell apart almost immediately.

The team opened with a brutal 0-7 start, injuries kept piling up, and the club never recovered, finishing 76-86 and missing the postseason entirely.

Brian Snitker stepped down after a decade as manager, and the front office brought in Walt Weiss to reset things heading into 2026.

The early results have been better than most people expected, and one of the most recognizable names in Braves history has taken notice.

Hall of Famer John Smoltz, who spent two decades pitching for the franchise, recently spoke with Casino.org about what this Atlanta club can really be.

His answer kept coming back to one thing, and it was health.

"If they can keep their pitching staff healthy, they're going to be right there and can beat anybody," Smoltz said. "That's the problem, though. Last year was a perfect storm. They were not able to be healthy and they started the season 0-9. The opposite has happened this year. So quite different between the two extremes, and somewhere in the middle is what the Atlanta Braves can be."

The pitching staff has been a big reason for Atlanta's hot start this season, with Chris Sale and Spencer Strider headlining a rotation that has mostly stayed intact.

Last year, the staff dealt with one injury after another and never found its footing, but this time around the health has held up and the results have followed.

Through June 2, the Braves' 40-20 record puts them ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers at 38-22 and the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays, who are both sitting at 36-21.

Atlanta has separated itself in a National League that is loaded with competitive teams, and Smoltz knows that staying out front means keeping the roster healthy and on the field.

He went on to stress how much the position players factor into all of this, pointing back to 2025 as a reminder of how fast things can fall apart when the lineup gets hit with too many injuries.

The Braves entered 2026 hoping key contributors would bounce back, and the early returns suggest that gamble is paying off.

If the health holds, this could be the year Atlanta gets back into serious October conversation.

But as Smoltz noted, the real version of these Braves probably lands somewhere between last year's disaster and the dream start they are on right now.

That middle ground, though, might still be more than good enough.