Couldn't the Atlanta Braves have saved some regular-season wins for later? Despite having the best record in baseball through 162, an 100-plus-win Atlanta team could only once again muster a single postseason victory. The Braves were eliminated from the playoffs on Thursday, losing Game 4 to the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1. It was the second year in a row the Braves were eliminated by Philadelphia.
The hottest offense this side of the sun went mostly cold vs. Philadelphia pitching. When the star players needed to step up, the Phillies' stars outshined Atlanta's. While Philadelphia enters the NLCS as the presumptive favorite to get past the Arizona Diamondbacks, we have to wonder what the hell went wrong? Not all of this should fall on manager Brian Snitker, but he is an easy scapegoat in this.
Snitker has been Atlanta's skipper since midway through 2016. He has won six straight NL East division titles, the 2021 NL pennant and the following World Series. At 67 years old, Snitker has spent pretty much all of his adult life in the Braves organization, dating back to his days as a player in their minor league system in 1977. While he has had his moments, this past week was a rough look for him.
With that in mind, let's discuss if the Braves have grounds to terminate Snitker's contract. They will likely stand pat and let him retire on his own accord because it is The Braves' Way, but we shall see.
Atlanta Braves' case for firing Brian Snitker after latest playoff failure
What you have to understand first and foremost with the Braves is that nothing leaks out of general manager Alex Anthopoulos' front office and this franchise never overreacts, for better or worse. On this spooky Friday the 13th morning, many people scattered across Braves Country are struggling to get past one of the latest huge, embarrassing postseason failures this team, and city, has given us.
The idea of moving on from Snitker is magnified by how good this team was during the regular season and how losing to the Phillies in four games in back-to-back NLDS is simply not acceptable. Bowing out in the NLCS to either Arizona or Los Angeles would have been much easier to stomach. Instead, the delightful Phillies and their fan base get to move on to a second-straight trip to the NLCS.
So if the Braves were to move on from Snitker, one would think they would tab someone off his staff like Walt Weiss, Ron Washington or somebody else we have not even considered. Washington and Weiss have big-league managerial experience. Atlanta may only promote from within, but you have to wonder if Snitker's message has gotten stale, or if he has lost his fastball in these big chess matches.
The fact we are even having this conversation about Snitker says everything about how bad of a series loss it truly was to Philadelphia. This is one of the greatest disappointments in team history.
Atlanta Braves' case against firing Brian Snitker after latest playoff failure
I am not here to defend Snitker to the death, but we needed a perfect storm to get to this divisive moment. The combination of winning 104 games, only to come out completely flat vs. the same division rival you lost to in the same round of the postseason in the same amount of games a year ago is a bitter pill to swallow. For that team to be led by Braves hater Bryce Harper makes it worse.
However, Snitker is still under contract with the Braves through the 2025 MLB season. He will be 69 years old by that point in time, which is probably a good time for him to retire and fully enjoy his life as a grandfather. By that point, Atlanta will have tabbed Snitker's successor. I have a feeling it will present itself in due time. Also, much of this roster's core will still be intact by the end of that season.
In short, Atlanta may have gotten a bad draw in the last two NLDS by getting a red-hot Phillies team. That team has the best roster of any franchise that has not won it all with its current core. If the Phillies win the whole thing, they will have earned it, 100 percent. That being said, I think it is way too premature to give up on this iteration of the Braves. Let it all play out through the 2025 season first.
Factor in how wonky the new postseason format has been for pretty much all top-two teams outside of the Houston Astros the last two years, and we could see an amendment of sorts to the bad format.
What should the Atlanta Braves do regarding manager Brian Snitker?
I think you know where my head is at in all this. Snitker should remain the Braves manager for the rest of his current contract. His loyalty to the Braves should be rewarded by two more seasons of him at the helm of it. Yes, Snitker can be incredibly frustrating at times, but for as long as Anthopoulos is in the front office, he will usually have one of the better rosters to navigate a schedule with in baseball.
In my lifetime, the Braves have only fired two managers: Bobby Cox's predecessor Russ Nixon and Cox's successor Fredi Gonzalez. Atlanta was horrendous during Nixon's tenure leading the club. Cox turned the entire organization around, in conjunction with former general manager John Schuerholz. Gonzalez had his moments in the early 2010s, but it got bad in a hurry after the awful 2014 campaign.
To me, I think for as long as the Braves are playoff-viable over the next two years, Snitker will get to retire when he probably wants to. His players do play hard for him, even if the NLDS makes you believe the contrary. I doubt baseball will do anything to fix this, but top-two seeds having a week off is so hard to overcome, as well as the NLDS being a best-of-five as opposed to a best-of-seven.
For now, it would be beyond silly to panic fire Snitker just because the Braves lost to Philadelphia.
