Matt Olson breaks silence on Braves’ frustrating inability to close games

Matt Olson and the Atlanta Braves have not put their best foot forward this season. They came into the season with two key players, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Spencer Strider, still rehabbing from season-ending injuries in 2024.

Both have since returned, but are still behind the rest of the players who have been playing all season long. Going into Saturday, Atlanta sits in fourth place in the National League East with a record of 26-30.

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The club has been unable to score runs when they need to the most, losing six of their last nine games by two runs or less. Despite this, Olson still has faith his club can turn it around, via MLB.com's Mark Bowman.

"I still think we're right on the edge of turning this thing around and playing the baseball we can play," said Olson.

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There is still a ton of baseball left to be played, and the Braves have more than enough time to turn things around in their favor. However, they need to figure out how to close out the tight games they have been losing.

"We've played a lot of tight games here lately, and not come through on a good bit of them, and don't feel like we're clicking at all," he added.

Just playing in tight ballgames while the club is still trying to figure it out is a positive note players can look at. That is the mindset that Matt Olson is keeping.

"I feel like you can spin it two different ways. You can say we can't win the tight game, or you can look at it and say we're not playing really great baseball for us, and we're still in a lot of ballgames" he added.

Matt Olson and the rest of the Braves' offense must step up if they want to turn things around

Atlanta Braves - Matt Olson (Photo via IMAGN)

The offense has been a bit of a letdown for the Braves this season. They do not hold a single team offensive stat that ranks them in the top 12, acting like a middle-of-the-pack offense.

Matt Olson is the only player on the team who has 10+ home runs with 12 to his name. Austin Riley, Marcell Ozuna, and Sean Murphy still have yet to hit their 10th homer of the year.

Things will not get easier for the team when the calendar shifts to June. They do not have many easy series coming up, playing the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants, and the New York Mets twice.

About the author

Jared "Bloomy" Bloom is a journalist covering Major League Baseball at Sportskeeda and a former college baseball pitcher from Illinois, who just graduated with a Master's degree in Sport Psychology.

A writer with over 3 years of experience, Jared is consistently more concerned with quality than quantity, thoroughly checking multiple sources of information, and prides himself in being knowledgeable not just about MLB, but the game of baseball in general. He loves breaking down plays and game-changing moments, as well as looking closer into players' statistics.

Jared is a die-hard Chicago White Sox fan, and one of his earliest memories is seeing his great-grandfather, a huge Sox fan, in his rocking chair watching a game. Jared started playing from the age of 5 with his grandfather coaching him early on.

Jared loved Tim Lincecum for his quirky delivery and looked up to him as a role model when playing. His current favorite is Phillies star Bryce Harper, an exciting player who doesn't let injuries hold him back. Jared's favorite sports moment is Mark Buehrle's opening day between-the-legs glove flip to first base in 2010.

When he is not watching or writing about baseball, Jared can be found racing BMX at his local Rockford BMX track or coaching his local youth travel baseball team.

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Edited by Jared "Bloomy" Bloom