2023 Atlanta Braves season
The 2023 Atlanta Braves season was the 153rd season of the Atlanta Braves franchise, the 58th in Atlanta, and the Braves' seventh season at Truist Park. The Braves were managed by Brian Snitker, in his eighth season as the team's manager. The Braves drew an average home attendance of 39,401 in 81 home games in the 2023 MLB season, the 5th highest in the league.
On September 10, 2023, the Braves were the first team in Major League Baseball during this season to clinch a playoff spot. On September 12, the Braves broke the National League record for most home runs in a season with their 281st home run, breaking the old mark set by the 2019 Los Angeles Dodgers. On September 13, the Braves clinched the National League East title for the sixth consecutive season. On September 26, the Braves reached their 300th home run of the season, becoming just the third team in MLB history to do so, joining the 2019 Minnesota Twins and the 2019 New York Yankees. On October 1, the last game of the regular season, the Braves hit their 307th home run, tying the 2019 Minnesota Twins for the most home runs hit by a team in a single season; additionally, first baseman Matt Olson broke the single-season home run record for the Braves, with 54.
The team also set the record for highest team slugging percentage in a season at.501, breaking the old record of.495 set by the 2019 Houston Astros. The Braves ended the season with 104 wins, the highest number of wins for the franchise since 1998. Because of these strong offensive numbers, the 2023 Braves are often regarded as one of the greatest baseball offenses of all time.
The Braves were defeated in four games in the [2023 National League (baseball)|National League Division Series|NLDS] by the Philadelphia Phillies, the same team that defeated them in the NLDS the previous season. Outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. was awarded the NL MVP award at the end of the season, after posting the first-ever 40-70 season in MLB history.
Offseason
Rule changes
Pursuant to the CBA, new rule changes will be in place for the 2023 season:- institution of a pitch clock between pitches;
- limits on pickoff attempts per plate appearance;
- limits on defensive shifts requiring two infielders to be on either side of second and be within the boundary of the infield; and
- larger bases ;
Postseason
Postseason rosters
- Pitchers: 22 Kirby Yates 26 Raisel Iglesias 33 A. J. Minter 38 Pierce Johnson 45 Brad Hand 51 Michael Tonkin 54 Max Fried 55 Bryce Elder 62 AJ Smith-Shawver 75 Daysbel Hernández 77 Joe Jiménez 99 Spencer Strider
- Catchers: 12 Sean Murphy 16 Travis d'Arnaud
- Infielders: 1 Ozzie Albies 11 Orlando Arcia 15 Nicky Lopez 18 Vaughn Grissom 27 Austin Riley 28 Matt Olson
- Outfielders: 8 Eddie Rosario 13 Ronald Acuña Jr. 17 Kevin Pillar 23 Michael Harris II 73 Forrest Wall
- Designated hitters: 20 Marcell Ozuna
Player statistics
Batting
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging average| Player | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | AVG | SLG |
| Ronald Acuña, Jr. | 159 | 643 | 149 | 217 | 35 | 4 | 41 | 106 | 73 | 80 | .337 | .596 |
| Austin Riley | 159 | 636 | 117 | 179 | 32 | 3 | 37 | 97 | 3 | 59 | .281 | .516 |
| Matt Olson | 162 | 608 | 127 | 172 | 27 | 3 | 54 | 139 | 1 | 104 | .283 | .604 |
| Ozzie Albies | 148 | 596 | 96 | 167 | 30 | 5 | 33 | 109 | 13 | 46 | .280 | .513 |
| Marcell Ozuna | 144 | 530 | 84 | 145 | 29 | 1 | 40 | 100 | 0 | 57 | .274 | .558 |
| Michael Harris II | 138 | 505 | 76 | 148 | 33 | 3 | 18 | 57 | 20 | 25 | .293 | .477 |
| Orlando Arcia | 139 | 488 | 66 | 129 | 25 | 0 | 17 | 65 | 1 | 39 | .264 | .420 |
| Eddie Rosario | 142 | 478 | 64 | 122 | 24 | 3 | 21 | 74 | 3 | 34 | .255 | .450 |
| Sean Murphy | 108 | 370 | 65 | 93 | 21 | 0 | 21 | 68 | 0 | 49 | .251 | .478 |
| Travis d'Arnaud | 74 | 267 | 31 | 60 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 39 | 0 | 21 | .225 | .397 |
| Kevin Pillar | 81 | 197 | 29 | 45 | 10 | 0 | 9 | 32 | 4 | 6 | .228 | .416 |
| Vaughn Grissom | 23 | 75 | 5 | 21 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 2 | .280 | .347 |
| Sam Hilliard | 40 | 72 | 15 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 6 | .236 | .431 |
| Nicky Lopez | 25 | 65 | 13 | 18 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 2 | 5 | .277 | .369 |
| Chadwick Tromp | 6 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .125 | .188 |
| Eli White | 6 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .071 | .071 |
| Forrest Wall | 15 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | .462 | .846 |
| Ehire Adrianza | 5 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 |
| Luke Williams | 7 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | .000 | .000 |
| Braden Shewmake | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 |
| Charlie Culberson | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 |
| Nick Solak | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .--- | .--- |
| Totals | 162 | 5597 | 947 | 1543 | 293 | 23 | 307 | 916 | 132 | 538 | .276 | .501 |
| Rank in NL | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 1 |
Source:
Pitching
Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts| Player | W | L | ERA | G | GS | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Spencer Strider | 20 | 5 | 3.86 | 32 | 32 | 0 | 186.2 | 146 | 85 | 80 | 58 | 281 |
| Bryce Elder | 12 | 4 | 3.81 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 174.2 | 160 | 79 | 74 | 63 | 128 |
| Charlie Morton | 14 | 12 | 3.64 | 30 | 30 | 0 | 163.1 | 150 | 70 | 66 | 83 | 183 |
| Michael Tonkin | 7 | 3 | 4.28 | 45 | 0 | 1 | 80.0 | 64 | 41 | 38 | 23 | 75 |
| Max Fried | 8 | 1 | 2.55 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 77.2 | 70 | 24 | 22 | 18 | 80 |
| A. J. Minter | 3 | 6 | 3.76 | 70 | 0 | 10 | 64.2 | 56 | 28 | 27 | 21 | 82 |
| Kirby Yates | 7 | 2 | 3.28 | 61 | 0 | 5 | 60.1 | 35 | 22 | 22 | 37 | 80 |
| Collin McHugh | 4 | 1 | 4.30 | 41 | 1 | 0 | 58.2 | 70 | 34 | 28 | 22 | 47 |
| Joe Jiménez | 0 | 3 | 3.04 | 59 | 0 | 0 | 56.1 | 51 | 22 | 19 | 14 | 73 |
| Raisel Iglesias | 5 | 4 | 2.75 | 58 | 0 | 33 | 55.2 | 51 | 23 | 17 | 15 | 68 |
| Jared Shuster | 4 | 3 | 5.81 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 52.2 | 53 | 34 | 34 | 26 | 30 |
| Nick Anderson | 4 | 0 | 3.06 | 35 | 0 | 1 | 35.1 | 30 | 14 | 12 | 9 | 36 |
| Jesse Chavez | 1 | 0 | 1.56 | 36 | 1 | 1 | 34.2 | 26 | 10 | 6 | 12 | 39 |
| Dylan Dodd | 2 | 2 | 7.60 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 34.1 | 53 | 29 | 29 | 12 | 15 |
| Michael Soroka | 2 | 2 | 6.40 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 32.1 | 36 | 23 | 23 | 12 | 29 |
| Allan Winans | 1 | 2 | 5.29 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 32.1 | 37 | 19 | 19 | 8 | 34 |
| Kyle Wright | 1 | 3 | 6.97 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 31.0 | 40 | 26 | 24 | 17 | 34 |
| AJ Smith-Shawver | 1 | 0 | 4.26 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 25.1 | 17 | 14 | 12 | 11 | 20 |
| Pierce Johnson | 1 | 1 | 0.76 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 23.2 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 32 |
| Dylan Lee | 1 | 0 | 4.18 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 23.2 | 24 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 24 |
| Yonny Chirinos | 1 | 1 | 9.27 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 22.1 | 33 | 23 | 23 | 7 | 22 |
| Darius Vines | 1 | 0 | 3.98 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 20.1 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 14 |
| Ben Heller | 0 | 0 | 3.86 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 18.2 | 16 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 16 |
| Brad Hand | 2 | 2 | 7.50 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 18.0 | 19 | 15 | 15 | 6 | 18 |
| Lucas Luetge | 1 | 0 | 7.24 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 13.2 | 17 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 14 |
| Kolby Allard | 0 | 1 | 6.57 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 12.1 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 13 |
| Jackson Stephens | 0 | 0 | 3.00 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 12.0 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 11 |
| Danny Young | 0 | 0 | 1.08 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8.1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Dereck Rodríguez | 0 | 0 | 15.43 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4.2 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| Daysbel Hernández | 1 | 0 | 7.36 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3.2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Nicky Lopez | 0 | 0 | 7.71 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2.1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Taylor Hearn | 0 | 0 | 108.00 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Totals | 104 | 58 | 4.14 | 162 | 162 | 52 | 1440.0 | 1341 | 716 | 662 | 534 | 1516 |
| Rank in NL | 1 | 15 | 7 | — | — | 2 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 1 |
Source: