Braves fans may be packing Max Fried’s bags for LA after another playoff meltdown

Despite some ups and downs throughout the year, Atlanta Braves southpaw Max Fried has had another outstanding regular season overall in 2024. In 29 starts, he finished the year with a 3.25 ERA and a WHIP of 1.164. And in fact, he’s been at least that good his entire career, with just two seasons since his debut in 2017 with an ERA over 3.30 and just one over 4.00 (4.02) in 2019. The playoffs, however, were one different story.

That’s certainly what was going through every Braves fan’s mind on Wednesday night as Fried secured the win for Game 2 against the San Diego Padres in the NL Wild Card series after losing on Tuesday night and in the best-of-three tournament had to leave.

And unfortunately, the narrative surrounding Fried in the postseason hasn’t dramatically changed the life-or-die situation for Atlanta.

After the Braves got things going in the first inning with a Marcell Ozuna sac fly to Michael Harris II, Fried escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the first inning. However, he wasn’t so lucky at the end of the next frame and the Padres took full advantage. But first Kyle Higashioka equalized with a solo shot into the left center. Then the bases were juiced and Manny Machado came to the plate.

When Fried swung a sweeper over the middle of the plate, the Padres star didn’t miss, slinging it into the left field corner to drive in two runs and give San Diego a 3-1 lead. It didn’t stop there, as rookie Jackson Merrill came next and almost shot Fried up the middle, but settled for a two-RBI triple for a commanding 5-1 lead.

To put Fried’s struggles in the playoffs into perspective, while his career had a 3.07 ERA in the regular season, that has increased to 4.57 in the postseason. But wait, it gets worse. Since throwing six scoreless innings against Milwaukee in the 2021 NLDS, Fried has made six playoff starts but has averaged fewer than 5.0 innings per outing and a 6.21 ERA, allowing 20 earned runs in 29.0 total innings allowed while striking out just 25 walks through eight innings.

Perhaps the real icing on the cake for this wild-card bet and Fried’s second-inning collapse is the fact that he will hit free agency this offseason. There has been a lot of speculation that the left-handed hitter could end up with the Los Angeles Dodgers and more importantly, most likely not the Braves.

After seeing another miss in the postseason, especially at a crucial moment, Braves fans may not be quite as sad about it if it comes to it. Hell, they could even help him pack in the heat of the moment.