Last night was almost a cathartic night for the Atlanta Braves, as they took out seven games of frustration and anguish on the Miami Marlins. The Braves left the ballpark victorious for the first time this season and the sense of relief was palpable for every player on the field who got to enjoy a breakthrough of any sort.

The manager is included in this as well, as Brian Snitker definitely seemed relieved to talk to the media in the post-game press conference after a win for once, instead of having to explain away another defeat. One thing that stuck out in particular outside of the usual post-game analysis was that Snitker took time to shout out the fans who lined the streets of The Battery. You have to imagine that some good ol’ fashioned home cooking and a familiar foe in Miami sure helped to give the Braves an immediate boost upon returning to their home ballpark and Snitker himself acknowledged it.

“I was proud of the fanbase for how they showed up for the [pre-game] Braves Walk,” said Snitker when he was asked about the effects of returning home on his team. “Walking in, you would’ve thought we were 7-0. Braves Country is the real deal. It makes these guys feel good to play in this ballpark. They have good vibes here and it’s a fun place to play. It was a long road trip so just getting back home and getting some home cooking helped out.”

Indeed, it was pretty nice to see fans show up last night — even if the home opener is usually a sellout in any given year, it was clear from the press box that the fans themselves were putting a little bit extra into willing their team to victory. While we have 60 games in 2020 that shows that these guys can and will perform at a high level even if there’s nothing but cardboard cutouts in the stands, it’s also evident that having a packed stadium of fans pulling in the same direction as the team played a factor (even if it was a tiny one) in helping the Braves snap out of their funk.

As far as the actual result of the game went, I think everybody’s aware that even though it was a dominant victory, it’s still one game and the Braves are still six games under .500 with plenty of work to do before they can really consider themselves to be back in the groove again. With that being said, Brian Snitker certainly hopes that this could be the spark that sends this team in the right direction.

“You hope to point to this night as something big,” said Snitker when he was asked about the result. “[The Braves] needed to win a game big. It was good for them to experience that again — to feel that again. They needed to realize that, hey, we’re really good.”

That’s a very good point to make. Even though you’ve rarely seen teams who start 0-7 make the Postseason, there have been plenty of occasions where Postseason teams eventually make the playoffs despite suffering a seven-game losing streak at some point. FanDuel Sports Braves color commentator C.J. Nitkowski pointed this out before the game.

Do you know how many teams started a season 0-7 and made the postseason? Blah, blah, blah!Do you know how many teams have had losing streaks in a season of 7 or more games and still made the postseason?85.

Including 3 such streaks last year and 4 in 2023 (TEX 8G, ARI 9G and…

— CJ (@CJNitkowski) April 4, 2025

So while the Braves are still in a hole, they’re not deep enough to be buried just yet. Hopefully this homestand can be the start of this team starting to move forward and get this season back on track. Beating up on a divisional rival by 10 runs sure is a good way to get things going and here’s hoping that it’s the start of a big run for this team.