The 2016 Atlanta Braves season was the Braves' 20th and last season of home games at Turner Field before moving to SunTrust Park, 51st season in Atlanta and 146th season overall. The Braves improve on their 67–95 record from 2015, but finished in last place in the National League East.
The Braves played 22 extra-inning games during the season, the most of any MLB team in 2016.
Season standings
National League East
National League Wild Card
Record vs. opponents
Detailed records
National League Opponent W L WP NL East Atlanta Braves Miami Marlins 11 7 94 78 New York Mets 10 9 68 76 Philadelphia Phillies 11 8 80 70 Washington Nationals 4 15 80 109 Total 36 39 322 333 NL Central Chicago Cubs 3 3 18 34 Cincinnati Reds 3 4 35 40 Milwaukee Brewers 2 5 17 30 Pittsburgh Pirates 3 4 35 40 St. Louis Cardinals 2 4 32 40 Total 13 20 137 184 NL West Arizona Diamondbacks 2 5 34 40 Colorado Rockies 1 6 18 41 Los Angeles Dodgers 1 5 20 28 San Diego Padres 4 2 33 23 San Francisco Giants 3 4 17 38 Total 11 22 122 170 American League Boston Red Sox 1 3 13 24 Chicago White Sox 2 1 17 13 Cleveland Indians 0 3 6 16 Detroit Tigers 2 1 8 9 Kansas City Royals 1 2 8 9 Minnesota Twins 2 2 16 21 Total 8 12 68 92 Season Total 68 93 649 779
Month Games Won Lost Win % April 23 5 18 75 122 May 28 10 18 86 115 June 28 12 16 103 131 July 26 10 16 96 130 August 28 13 15 140 155 September 26 16 10 143 123 October 2 2 0 6 3 Total 161 68 93 649 779 Games Won Lost Win % Home 81 31 50 335 404 Away 80 37 43 314 375 Total 161 68 93 649 779
Season summary
The 2016 season was the Braves' final season at Turner Field, before moving to their new home at SunTrust Park. The stadium was originally built as a venue for the 1996 Summer Olympics before being converted for use by the Braves for the 1997 season. The team scheduled a number of special events and limited-edition giveaways in honor of its final season at Turner and the players wore a commemorative sleeve patch on their uniforms for the entire season. The patch showed an outline of the stadium with the words "Turner Field; Final Season, 19972016".
April
Opening Day and first series vs. Nationals 2016 Opening Day lineup Position NameCenter Fielder Ender InciarteShortstop Erick AybarFirst Baseman Freddie FreemanThird Baseman Adonis GarcíaRight Fielder Nick MarkakisLeft Fielder Héctor OliveraCatcher A. J. PierzynskiSecond Baseman Jace PetersonStarting Pitcher Julio Teherán The Braves began their season with a 4–3 loss in 10 innings after blowing the save in the top of the 9th. Nick Markakis of the Braves fell afoul of Major League Baseball's new "Chase Utley Rule" in the 7th inning when he slid too far out to the left of second base and initially prevented Daniel Murphy of the Nationals from making the double play.
The Braves ended their two-game series against the Nationals with a 3–1 loss after Matt den Dekker, who had been called up from the Syracuse Chiefs just a few hours prior, hit a two-run double to right-center.
Consecutive series sweeps Despite opening up their next series with a four-run lead, the Braves gave up seven unanswered runs in a 7–4 loss to the Cardinals. Atlanta also gave up an MLB record three home runs to pinch hitters. In the second of the three-game series against the Cardinals, the Braves allowed nine unanswered runs in a 12–2 loss. After the loss, the Braves were the only team in the National League to have not won a single game yet. Atlanta closed out a three-game series against the Cardinals with a 12–7 loss. Braves pitcher Daniel Winkler suffered an elbow fracture after pitching 6 2/3rd's innings.
Things didn't improve on the first road trip of the season as the Braves lost 6–4 to the Nationals and fell to 0–6 for the first time since 1988. Mallex Smith, who earned a hit in his MLB debut, left the game in the fourth inning after suffering a cut to his face by his helmet. After eight scoreless innings in the second game of the series, Bryce Harper brought in two runs on a double to left field and the Nationals won 2–1. Home runs by Stephen Drew and Jayson Werth in the fourth inning handed the Braves their eighth loss of the season as the Nationals won 3–0. The Braves ended their road series against the Nationals with a 6–2 loss.
First wins vs. Marlins After trailing 3–0 against the Marlins, the Braves scored six unanswered runs to win their first game of the season. Jason Grilli earned his first save since July 2015 with a 6–4 win over the Marlins in the second game of the series. The Braves swept the series over the Marlins with a 6–5 victory in a 10-inning game.
Continued struggles The Braves earned their fourth win of the season against former Braves pitcher Alex Wood and the Los Angeles Dodgers in a lopsided 8–1 game at Turner Field. Wood said after the game that it "was not really the way I pictured coming back here for the first time. Fastball command was the most frustrating thing. I don't even know if I've walked in a run before in my professional career. The walks were pretty frustrating. It was a tough one to swallow, but I have another one in five days." Despite a 3–1 lead, the Dodgers scored four unanswered runs to snap the Braves four-game win streak. A Yasmani Grandal double in the 10th inning gave the Dodgers a 2–1 victory in the Braves's fourth extra-inning game of the season.
The Braves opened their next series with a 6–3 loss to the New York Mets. In the second game of the series, the Braves lost 8–2. The Braves ended their three-game series against the Mets with a 3–2 loss.
In their first interleague series of the season, former Braves closer Craig Kimbrel earned his 94th career save at Turner Field in a 1–0 victory over the Braves. In the second game of the series, David Price pitched 14 strikeouts to secure an 11–4 victory over the Braves. In the third game of the series and first of two at Fenway Park, the Braves surrendered a grand slam to Dustin Pedroia in a 9–4 loss to the Red Sox. Freddie Freeman ended the Braves's 15-game home run-less streak with a deep ball into right-center field in the eighth inning. In the final game of the series, three RBI's by Markakis contributed to the Braves ending their eight-game losing skid with a 5–3 victory over the Red Sox.
Despite a Freeman home run in the fourth inning, the Braves allowed six unanswered runs, including their fourth grand slam of the season, in a 6–1 loss to the Cubs.
May
4–10 start A sacrifice fly by Markakis in the 10th inning allowed Daniel Castro to score the go-ahead run and beat the Cubs 4–3.
In his 2016 debut, Mike Foltynewicz gave up three home runs in a 4–1 loss to the Mets. In the second game of the series, pitcher Matt Wisler surrendered one hit and earned his first win of the season in a 3–0 game against the Mets. The Braves fell 8–0 in the series finale to the Mets. Primary leadoff hitter Markakis wasn't in the lineup for the series finale as he traveled back home to Baltimore to tend to a family emergency.
Two errors by the Braves led to a 7–2 loss in the first of three games against the Diamondbacks. Former Braves starting pitcher Shelby Miller earned his first win of the season in a 4–2 victory over the Braves. Despite a two-run RBI by Jeff Francoeur to tie the game, the Braves gave up two home runs in the 11th inning in a 5–3 loss to the Diamondbacks.
Despite a ninth inning home run from Freeman and two players in scoring position, the Braves lost 3–2 in the first of three games against the Phillies. After being recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett, Williams Pérez surrendered one hit in eight innings pitched in a 5–1 victory over the Phillies. Despite a three-run double by Gordon Beckham in the seventh inning, the Braves were unable to capitalize with runners in walk off position in the ninth and fell 7–4 to the Phillies in the 10th.
The Braves opened up a three-game road series with a 5–1 loss to the reigning World Series champion Kansas City Royals. Foltynewicz earned his first win of the season with a 5–0 victory over the Royals. Despite tying the game in the ninth inning, Grilli gave up a two-run walk off home run to Kendrys Morales to fall 4–2 in the 13th inning. Despite home runs from Francoeur and Kelly Johnson, the Braves fell 8–5 to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
González and Tosca dismissed On May 17, Fredi González was fired from his position as team manager, as was Carlos Tosca from his position as bench coach. Brian Snitker, manager of Triple-A Gwinnett, was promoted to interim manager of the Atlanta Braves. His debut didn't fare too well as, despite a season-high of nine runs, a seven-run deficit in the first inning proved too much to overcome in a 12–9 loss. Tyler Flowers hitting in three of four plate appearances and Julio Teherán surrendering only five hits gave Snitker his first win as an MLB manager in a 3–1 victory over the Pirates. The Braves closed out this four-game road series with an 8–2 loss. Regular shortstop Erick Aybar was removed from the lineup after undergoing a procedure to remove a dislodged chicken bone.
Despite surrendering a run in the first inning, three two-run home runs from Freeman and Markakis gave the Braves a 7–1 victory in the first of three games against the Phillies. Pérez allowed only two hits in 6 1/3 innings pitched to give the Braves their second series victory of the season in a 2–0 win over the Phillies. The Braves were unable to pull off a sweep of the series as they fell 5–0 to the Phillies.
The Braves opened up their next series back home with a 2–1 loss to the Brewers. Despite the loss, Julio Teherán recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts, including four in one inning. The Braves couldn't capitalize on loaded bases in the 12th inning, gave up a run on a single by Jonathan Villar and lost 3–2 in 13 innings. The Braves concluded their three-game series against the Brewers with a 6–2 loss.
Despite surrendering two runs in the third inning, key hits by Freeman and Markakis led to four unanswered runs scored by the Braves in a 4–2 win over the Marlins. The Braves earned their first home series win of the season in a 7–2 victory over the Marlins. The Braves failed to sweep the Marlins for the second time this season in a 7–3 loss to conclude the series.
The Braves opened up their next series with a 5–3 win over the Giants. Wisler put on a solid pitching performance until he allowed three runs in the eighth inning and the Braves fell 4–0.
June
More struggles Despite trailing 4–1 at a point in the game, Markakis scored the tying run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning, Chris Withrow kept the Braves in the game with his relief performance and Freeman hit a walk-off home run to right-center to beat the Giants 5–4 in the 11th inning. The Braves concluded their home-stand with a 6–0 loss to the Giants after squandering an early scoring opportunity by Chase d'Arnaud and Freeman in the first inning.
Despite opening the game with a two-run lead, the Braves surrendered four home runs, including three to Corey Seager, in a 4–2 loss to the Dodgers. Despite holding Clayton Kershaw to his shortest outing of the season and fewest strikeouts in over two years, the offensive-inept Braves were unable to capitalize and fell 4–0 to the Dodgers. The Braves concluded their series against the Dodgers by giving up multiple home runs in a 12–6 loss.
The Braves opened their next three-game series with Pérez exiting the game due to triceps soreness in the fifth inning and falling 7–2 to the Padres. Despite carrying a one-run lead into the ninth inning, Arodys Vizcaíno blew the save by surrendering a home run and a walk off single in a 4–3 loss. The Braves concluded their series with the Padres with Teherán surrendering just two runs in eight innings. Vizcaíno, who blew the save the night before, earned the save and the Braves won 4–2.