The second half of the Major League Baseball season started on Friday. Ninety-five games into this year, the Atlanta Braves are 42-53, 12.5 games back of the first-place Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East Division and 9.5 games back in the Wild Card race.

While the Braves entered the season as a young, talented squad with aspirations of another World Series championship, they begin the second half of the season as wounded underachievers with their share of questions on how to navigate the last two and a half months of the season.

Their two most reliable pitchers, Chris Sale and Spencer Schwellenbach, are currently on the injured list. A right abdominal strain sidelined third baseman Austin Riley right before the All-Star break. While the injuries have not been as severe or widespread as last year, they have definitely taken a toll on a team with little margin for error following a dreadful start to the season.

The Braves lost their first seven games and finished the first half 18-30 after moving one game above .500 on May 18. With a team this deep and talented, even with the injury bug taking a bite of the Braves’ season, there is no excuse for the Braves to be this bad for this long of a stretch.

So, it begs the question: What are realistic expectations for the Braves in the second half of the season? 

Is it too much to ask for the Braves to chase down the Phillies? The teams only have a four-game series against each other during the Labor Day weekend left on the schedule. But the Braves have already lost five of nine games against the Phillies this year and will be without their frontline starting pitchers Chris Sale and Spencer Schwellenbach for much of the second half of the season.

A division title is probably too much to count on for Braves fans.

A playoff spot almost seems out of reach as well. Six teams are in front of the Braves and the third and final wildcard spot. While I do not believe the Miami Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks have staying power in the playoff race, the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants are too much to overcome.

A successful second half of the season may just get the Braves over .500 but not net them a playoff spot in 2025. That’s what I think will happen.

The Braves only have themselves to blame. They dug too deep of a hole.

The biggest question will be how the Braves handle next month’s trade deadline. Marcell Ozuna’s days with the Braves may be numbered. If the Braves fall further out of the playoff race, Ozuna’s days as a Brave will be numbered.