Why the 2023 Atlanta Braves are the best Braves team of all time

The 2023 Atlanta Braves are the best Braves team of all time.

I don't say this lightly.

To have the greatest Braves team of all time conversation, I think you need to step back to the '90s-to-early-aughts Braves squads, the dynasty that won 14 straight division titles. That's something I don't think we'll ever see again — 14 straight from 1991-2005. 

But throughout that entire stretch, the Braves won one World Series; in 1995. I would actually argue that was not the best Braves team of that stretch. I would say the 1998 Braves team was the best Braves team throughout that entire run. They had four players hitting over 30 homers, led by Andres Galarraga with 44. 

I was the biggest Braves fan in the world growing up. I loved watching Galarraga, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Walt Weiss, Ryan Klesko and then that pitching staff with John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and Kevin Milwood. 

That team was stacked, and they went on to win 106 games. Chipper hit .313 that year. Glavine had 20 wins. All three of those future Hall of Famers in the rotation had a sub-3.00 ERA. But in classic MLB playoffs fashion, that team didn't even win the pennant, losing to the San Diego Padres in the National League Championship Series. It's a good reminder that there are no guarantees in October.

So with that caveat, I do believe that this current team is better than the 1998 Braves. 

Ronald Acuña Jr. is a bona fide superstar, the biggest star on this team. He just reached 25 home runs and has 51 stolen bases, and is now the fastest player in MLB history to reach the 25-50 mark — in just 106 games. That's just incredible. If not for a certain two-way superstar in Anaheim, Acuña would probably be considered the best player in baseball right now.

[Tracking Ronald Acuña Jr.'s historic pace; which MLB hitters have 40/40 seasons?]

Then you have Spencer Strider, the fastest pitcher in history to reach 200 strikeouts in a season — beating his own record, which he set as a rookie last year while topping the old record of Hall of Famer Randy Johnson, one of the best strikeout artists of all time. To already one-up that this year, it's remarkable how good he's been. He was my NL Cy Young pick this year, and so far, I feel good about that.

Next we have Matt Olson, who has the most home runs in the National League and is at Shohei Ohtani's heels for the MLB lead. As of this recording, he has 37 bombs. He's finally getting the credit he is due. Consider this — over the last six seasons, nobody across all of Major League Baseball has more home runs than Olson.

The Braves offense as a whole — with Austin Riley, Acuna, Olson, Michael Harris II, Orlando Arcia, Ozzie Albies and the rest of that lineup — are on pace for 311 home runs, which would break the all-time record for team home runs in a single season. (The 2019 Minnesota Twins currently hold that mark with 307.)

Pitching-wise, the Braves have Max Fried returning Friday from a left forearm strain that has kept him out for the past three months. Kyle Wright should eventually come back before the end of the season. Oh, by the way, Fried was the 2022 N.L. Cy Young runner-up and Wright led all of MLB in wins last year.

Yet despite those injuries, the Braves still have three starting pitchers currently in the top 12 on the qualified ERA leaderboard — Strider, Bryce Elder and Charlie Morton — the only rotation in baseball to do so. That pitching staff leads all of baseball with a 119 ERA+, meaning they are a whopping 19% better than league-average as a staff.

I said earlier that I doubt we will ever see the streak of 14 straight division titles set by the 1990s-2000s Braves topped, but let me amend that — I think if anyone can do it, it's this current edition of the Braves. They already have five straight N.L. East titles and are well on their way to a sixth.

Yes, it's going to be tough in a talented division. The Phillies have superstars all over their lineup. The Marlins are very good, very young and have a dominant starting rotation. The Mets are clearly retooling right now, but they still have Steve Cohen as an owner and a very bright future thanks to all those prospects they got at the trade deadline.

But the Braves are just so good, and with the way they have been able to develop, acquire and maintain this core of players, they are poised to be this good for the foreseeable future.

But don't just take my word for it about the 2023 Braves. Several weeks ago, I asked my FOX Sports colleague, Hall of Famer and member of those 1990s Braves teams John Smoltz, this exact question — is this the best Braves team we have ever seen? Obviously, he has a very valuable perspective here. 

"This team is equipped to do anything they want," Smoltz said then. "Offensively, they're gifted. Their speed is through the roof. Their pitching staff is more than adequate. I think that if they have health in their rotation and decent depth, which is important today, this could be the best baseball team the Atlanta Braves have trotted out in a long time if ever, going back to the days of Hank Aaron. I can't think of a better offensive squad than what they have from top to bottom."

I don't need much more confirmation than that. The 2023 Braves are the greatest team that franchise has ever put out on a baseball field.