After Acuña’s injury, how much worse can things get for the Braves?

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Dressed in his street clothes, Ronald Acuña Jr. limped toward his locker in the visiting clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium, his lower right leg in a protective walking boot. The Braves star right fielder was to speak with media regarding the injury to his right Achilles that would put him on the 10-day injured list. Before beginning, he let out a loud, audible sigh.

Without words, it was the newest and perhaps most poignant response to the question that has hovered over the Braves for the past few weeks: “How much worse can things get?”

The trap doors continue to swing open beneath the Braves. Just two years removed from back-to-back 100-win seasons, the franchise that has made seven consecutive postseasons could be headed for its worst season since the 1980s.

But let’s start with Acuña. Being sidelined is a huge disappointment for the 2023 National League MVP, who missed a season’s worth of games after his right ACL tear in May 2024 and is now on the IL after just 55 games since his return. After he felt tightness in the tendon Monday while running the bases, he ignored encouragement to take Tuesday off because “I’ve just missed so much time already through injuries, I don’t want to miss any more time,” he said through team interpreter Franco García.

Now he’ll be out at least 10 days and is expected out for a few weeks. Even if Acuña’s Achilles were not damaged to the point of requiring surgery, the Braves surely don’t want to put their star at greater risk for injury, particularly in a season that has no chance of being salvaged.

From the start of his 2021 season (when he suffered his first ACL tear) through Tuesday, injuries had limited him to playing in 62% of the team’s regular-season games, not to mention missing the 2021 World Series run.

Disappointed and frustrated probably don’t adequately capture Acuña’s state.

And, as for his team, it would not be a surprise if the Braves finish with their worst record since their dreadful seasons of the 1980s. Each member of the opening-day starting rotation is on the 60-day IL with no suggestion that any will be back soon. For now, the rotation includes pitchers claimed off waivers (Joey Wentz), acquired in a trade after being designated for assignment by his previous team (Erick Fedde) and received in a trade after his team sent him to Triple-A (Carlos Carrasco).

A bullpen that began Wednesday tied for most innings pitched since July 1 (about the time that Chris Sale and Spencer Schwellenbach’s injuries hit) and has been unsurprisingly ineffective (5.56 ERA, 26th in MLB) will be burdened even more.

The Braves are without their most productive offensive player. They could lose apparently resurgent designated hitter Marcell Ozuna and closer Raisel Iglesias in trade-deadline deals.

Before Wednesday’s series finale against the Royals, they were on pace for a final record of 69-93, which would be the worst since the 2016 team, which was 68-93. That was the season that Brian Snitker served as interim before being made the full-time skipper at season’s end.

But the team’s Wednesday morning record of 45-61 was attained with the contributions of Acuña and key starters Sale, Schwellenbach and Grant Holmes, all of whom shouldn’t be counted on for much for the remaining third of the season.

Even if the lineup produces more games like Tuesday’s — six runs keyed by home runs by Austin Riley and Ozuna and Michael Harris II going 3-for-5 — there probably are going to be many nights (like Tuesday, a 9-6 loss) where that won’t be enough.

From this vantage point, a 100-loss season, which would be the first since 1988, doesn’t seem out of question. Projected as a World Series contender before the season, the Braves instead are in a fight to stay out of last place in the National League East, where they held a 1½-game lead over the Nationals before Wednesday’s games.

In one sense, if a team isn’t in the postseason race, it doesn’t really make a difference whether it finishes at .500 or well below. But this sure feels a whole lot different.

It is a staggering drop-off, accelerated by the wipeout of the starting rotation, the underperformance of the lineup and a bullpen that was not replenished sufficiently in the offseason by president of baseball operations and general manager Alex Anthopoulos.

On the night of Sept. 13, 2023, the Braves celebrated their sixth consecutive NL East title. They were on their way to the best record in baseball (104-58) and tying the MLB record for home runs in a season. (The postseason, of course, was a different story.)