This time, the Braves don’t have rust to use as an excuse for a first-round postseason flameout.

Wild Card Series - Atlanta Braves v San Diego Padres - Game 2
Wild Card Series – Atlanta Braves v San Diego Padres – Game 2 / Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/GettyImages

For the third straight season, the Atlanta Braves are heading home for the winter without winning a single playoff series. A beleaguered roster needed a doubleheader split on the season’s final day to grab a Wild Card spot, then promptly got its doors blown off in a Wild Card sweep at the hands of the San Diego Padres. Now, with starter Max Fried set to hit free agency and plenty of questions to answer about where the team goes from here, it’s going to be another long offseason in Atlanta.

As if all that weren’t pain enough, one of the Braves’ most hated rivals added insult to injury with some good old-fashioned grave dancing after Game 2 wrapped. Phillies fans remembered all of the excuses that came after their team sent Atlanta packing in the NLDS in both 2022 and 2023. There was too long a layoff for teams that earned a first-round bye; the new playoff format was to blame, putting top seeds at a disadvantage just for being successful during the regular season. And they were all too ready to make sure Braves fans heard all about it.

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Phillies fans had way too much fun with Braves’ Game 2 loss

Braves manager Brian Snitker made sure to let everyone know what he thought of the new playoff format, and how detrimental an extra week off would be for his team. Well, Atlanta was forced to just keep on playing baseball this time, and the results were … about the same.

Credit where credit is due: The meme ingenuity was through the roof on Wednesday night.

There’s nothing quite like the disdain created by multiple postseason meetings.

Of course, bragging rights last only as long as one series this time of year. Pretty soon it’ll be the Phillies’ turn to put up or shut up, starting in Game 1 of the NLDS against the winner of the Brewers-Mets series. If Philly gets upset in that one, you can bet that Atlanta will have the meme cannon locked and ready.