By Samir Ajy
The 2025 season could not have gotten off to more of an unideal start for the Atlanta Braves.
On Monday evening, a bombshell report came out that outfielder Jurickson Profar, the team’s
prime free agent acquisition this past offseason, received an 80-game suspension from Major
League Baseball for violating the league’s Performance Enhancing Drugs policy. Profar tested
positive for hCG, a hormone that assists in the production of testosterone in the human body.
Approximately one hour later, the team placed all-star pitcher Reynaldo Lopez on the 15-day
Injured List due to shoulder inflammation, calling up Bryce Elder to take his spot on the Major
League roster. On top of that, they had a game at Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine against
the undefeated Los Angeles Dodgers, a stadium in which the Braves have only won one season
series since 2015.
The Dodgers defeated the Braves 6-1 later that night. Teoscar Hernandez put Los Angeles on
the board first with a two-run home run in the first inning and they never looked back. The lone
positive of the night for Atlanta came in the eighth inning, when a solo home run by Michael
Harris II broke the team’s 29-inning scoreless streak. The team is now 0-5 for the first time since Chris Sale will take the mound for the Braves on Tuesday night. Dustin May will start for the Dodgers, as the Braves will look to pick up their first win of the season.
