Braves Gets Bad News With Max Fried Injury Update

Updated: Sep 10, 5:00pm UTC

A rollercoaster ride of a season has the Atlanta Braves having a 34-37 record, 5.0 games behind the New York Mets for the top spot in the NL East. Given there's still over half of the 2021 MLB season left to play, it's not like the Braves can't win their division. Nevertheless, any possible path to the NL East crown took a hit on Tuesday as Atlanta received some bad injury news.

Max Fried is the latest Brave to find himself on the shelf with an injury. The club placed the left-handed starting pitcher on the 10-day injured list on Tuesday with a blister on his left index finger.

Max Fried Injury Update

After going a perfect 7-0 with a 2.25 ERA in 2020, Fried had a slow start to the 2021 season. He sported an 11.45 ERA after three appearances in April. Fried began to slowly improve with each passing game, however. His ERA stood at 4.63 by the end of May.

Fast forward to Tuesday and Fried has continued to lower his ERA to 4.21. He's also won two of his last three starts. Considering how the Braves have a 4.39 team ERA (19th), they likely can't wait for Fried to get back in the lineup. Fortunately, his injured list placement is retroactive to June 19, so he could be back on the mound before the month is over.

The Braves will need Fried to be at the top of his game as they hope to make a playoff push. If they hope to qualify for the postseason by winning their division, there's a lot of work to do. The Braves' +650 odds to win the NL East puts them in a tie for second with the Philadelphia Phillies, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Meanwhile, the Mets continue to have the best odds to win the division by a large margin at -330.