Austin Riley gets his season rewrite off to a storybook start

A beautiful aspect of the MLB postseason is that it’s a reset for everybody involved.

The triumphs and tribulations that led to this point can be overridden with one swing. A single pitch suddenly holds more value than six months of data. A sport often consumed in the background vaults to the forefront. What was once a leisurely watch becomes the grandest source of stress.

Best of all, this is ultimately where players define their seasons, if not their careers. The latest exhibit of such was unveiled at Truist Park on Tuesday afternoon.

Braves third baseman Austin Riley, maddened by a campaign littered with letdowns, got his rewrite. And what sublime penmanship he has.

Riley launched a three-run homer off Jhoan Duran with two outs in the eighth, lifting the Braves to a 5-3 victory in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series.

Just like that, months of dismay — and his 0-for-3 start to the afternoon — were forgotten.

“It felt really good,” said Riley, who added he blacked out after hitting the homer. “Everybody obviously knows how my season went. Not the way I wanted it to. But that’s the beauty of the postseason — you get a clean slate. You go out there and try to do something for the boys and for this city. This is definitely a good start.”

The implications are seismic. The Braves went from potentially losing Chris Sale’s start and seeing their season on the brink to now possessing the upper hand, well positioned to finally get the last laugh on their northern rivals.

In the past two postseason series against the Phillies (2022-23), the Braves lost the opener at Truist Park. This time, they’ll enter Game 2 with an advantage. They have Riley to thank.

“I don’t think I’ve screamed that loud in a very long time,” Sale said. “Just couldn’t be happier for him.”

After ending consecutive seasons on the injured list, Riley stayed healthy in 2026 — but the expected production never came. He hit .219 with a .654 OPS. He managed only 19 home runs — a career-low mark in any healthy season — and struck out 201 times. He was just the third player in MLB history to strike out that much without providing 20-homer power.

The offensive decline was staggering. Riley noted in spring that the team pays him to mash homers and drive in runs. There was hope that after he was limited to 212 of 324 possible games from 2024-25, he’d return to doing just that this summer.

His season was a flop from that perspective, and it led to further concern around the team’s commitment to their stumbling cornerstone. The beloved Riley became subject to fan questioning.

Murmurs began, if they hadn’t in seasons prior: Is Riley a bad contract? The Braves rewarded him with a 10-year, $212 million deal that was the biggest in club history a few years ago. But his past three campaigns have been plagued with underperformance and ailments.

It’d be human nature to feel additional pressure to live up to that deal. And Riley, as honest an observer as they come, would be the first to tell you he hasn’t performed to his standard.

“I think the way the season went, it’s a mental grind,” Riley said. “You ask anybody that’s played 162 games, has been really bad, and you’ve got to go back out there each and every day and try to perform. It’s a mental grind.”

Through it all, the Braves lauded Riley’s consistency behind the scenes. He remained the same person. His work ethic was unquestioned. He stayed optimistic as humanly reasonable even as reality painted a darker picture.

“I always felt like virtually every time he got in the box, this is when it’s going to turn around,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “At times, it did. But he’s worked all year for this moment, and good for him.”

Someone close to Riley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution months ago that they felt a turnaround was inevitable because of Riley’s demeanor and attitude. Perhaps this postseason is his better-late-than-never arrival.

This isn’t new to Riley, after all. A remarkable stat from MLB statistician Sarah Langs: Riley has three go-ahead homers in the eighth inning or later in the postseason. That’s tied for the most in postseason history with Troy Glaus, Bernie Williams, Jose Altuve and former Brave and Riley’s friend, Freddie Freeman.

Riley has four go-ahead postseason homers overall and he’s hit .350 (7-for-20) since the 2023 National League Division Series. Maybe the increased stakes can be a catalyst for his revival.

“He was the guy that everybody was bashing earlier in the year,” teammate Mauricio Dubon said. “When was he going to figure it out? I honestly don’t remember how he hit during the season. I just know what he did right now.

“It’s a good start for him. It’s crazy, this guy comes in and works his ass off every day trying to figure it out, trying to figure it out, and he figured it out today.”

His magnificence was set up by the Phillies’ risky play with Duran, a superb closer but one lacking a history in longer stints. He recorded two outs before two reached, and Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly decided to stick with his best reliever.