What The Braves & Yankees Have In Common This Season
The best two teams in baseball in the NL and AL have had surprising hot starts in very similar ways.
The Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees have had splendid starts to their 2026 MLB regular season campaigns. The Braves are 23-10 and winners of seven of their last ten games. The Yankees are 21-11 and winners of eight of their last ten games. The Braves have the best run differential in baseball at +68, and the Yankees are two spots below them at +52. The Braves are third in offensive WAR, while the Yankees are fifth, per FanGraphs. (The Yankees are No. 1 in pitching WAR, too, with Cam Schlittler at No. 1 in all of baseball and fellow teammate ace Max Fried right behind him at No. 3.) Wherever you look, there is so much to like about both Atlanta and New York’s starts to the 2026 MLB season. However, if you had polled both fan bases before the season, I don’t think either would have overwhelmingly predicted the starts both teams have had to this point.
The Braves lost their big free-agent retention piece, shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, to a bizarre injury that has caused him to miss the start of the season. We all know what happened with left fielder and designated hitter Jurickson Profar. Starters Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach haven’t pitched for the big-league club yet due to different injury issues. The team did not add a high-priced starter and opted to roll with internal options, such as Bryce Elder, Grant Holmes, and Reynaldo Lopez. There was quite simply a lot of angst before the start of the 2026 season, and wouldn’t you know it, Elder is 16th in all of baseball in Pitching WAR.
The Yankees did re-sign outfielder Cody Bellinger. Something that had to happen after the team lost Juan Soto to the New York Mets the previous offseason. They brought Trent Grisham back. They traded for Ryan Weathers. Like the general manager of the Braves, Alex Anthopoulos, general manager of the Yankees, Brian Cashman, put together the kind of offseason that makes a rabid fanbase angsty. And yet, the Yankees lead the AL East here on May 2. The Yankees are 13-4 since the Tampa Bay Rays swept the club on April 12. The Yankees are No. 1 in pitching and No. 5 in batting through May 2. Only the powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers can also say they’re in the top-5 in both categories. That’s pretty elite company for Cashman’s team to be in through 32 games.
If you’re a fan of either team, you’re obviously excited about how your team has started the season. However, it’s in our nature to always be looking ahead. It’s why college football recruiting is still such a big deal for so many programs across the country. For New York fans, you can’t help but notice that Carlos Rodon just completed his second rehab start. Ace Gerritt Cole completed his third rehab start this week, too. The cavalry is coming to the Bronx, to be sure, but as I’ve previously written in this very piece, they’re coming into the best pitching situation in baseball. The Yankees are the only AL team in the top-6 in run differential, and barring any unlucky setbacks for Rodon or Cole, have two additional looming big-time arms to cement themselves as the best team in the AL by a wide margin.
For the Braves, Elder’s surprising dominance has been huge. Even more so when you factor in the rough start to the season for fellow starter Reynaldo Lopez. It looks like Strider is expected to make his season debut in Colorado on Sunday. If Strider can reestablish himself as one of the top arms in the NL once again, that’s obviously huge for Atlanta, particularly with Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep not in the starting rotation picture anytime soon. If either young, high-upside arm J.R. Ritchie or Didier Fuentes can find their footing as a long-term answer in the rotation, that would obviously be fantastic for Atlanta, too. Still, the team has the best offense in baseball, and closer Raisael Iglesias is reportedly close to returning, too. The Braves don’t need to have a top-10 Pitching WAR – they were 14th in 2021 when they won the World Series – but at the very least, you would feel a lot more comfortable about this rotation if Strider looks close to the old, dominant version of himself from a few seasons ago.
There are so many great stories for these two teams to start the season, too. First basemen Ben Rice and Matt Olson are tied with ten home runs apiece, and are No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in 1B WAR. Both teams have two starters in the top-15 in xERA at the moment – for New York, it’s Schlittler and Fried, and for Atlanta, it’s Elder and Chris Sale. For New York, Will Warren and Weathers are in the top-12 in K/9 with great FIP numbers, but quite unlucky BABIP numbers. Ozzie Albies has a 150 WRC+ and is crushing lefties with a .370 average and also hitting .417 in high-leverage situations. There are just great stories everywhere you look for both teams.
Yes, it is still May 2. A lot can change between now and the end of the season. However, both Atlanta and New York’s hot starts are a welcome reminder that offseason anxiety isn’t always warranted. Baseball is weird. The Braves can have the best offense in baseball without Kim and Profar and without Ronald Acuna Jr. and Austin Riley hitting like we all know they can. The Yankees can have the best pitching staff in baseball without Cole and Rodon. Will it all keep up for both teams? Who knows, but for now, the two best stories in baseball to start the 2026 season went into it with all kinds of similar questions and concerns. That’s what makes sports great, right? Sometimes all that worrying can be for nothing.