Braves fans react as GM Alex Anthopoulos announces an increase in team’s payroll for 2024 season: “Ohtani szn”.

MLB teams are adjusting their cap space to accommodate two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani, who is looking for his next team in free agency, and the Atlanta Braves are one of them.

According to David O’Brien of The Athletic, Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos announced an increase in the team’s payroll for the 2024 season. Atlanta began the 2023 season with a player salary in the $205 million range. Its luxury tax figure was far higher, projected to be over $250 million based on the combined average annual worth of a team’s deals.

Braves fans took a liking to this news. They took to X, formerly Twitter, to give their take on the news. Many reactions were centered around Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto, who are currently free agents and could be signed by the Braves in the offseason:

While it’s not clear how much increase fans will see in the Braves payroll, they are surely going to look at Soto and Ohtani in this free agency.

Atlanta Braves 2023 MLB season

The Braves finished with the best regular-season record of 104-58 in all of baseball. Their leadoff hitter, Ronald Acuna Jr. had an MVP-esque season piling up records for fun.

The four-time All-Star slashed .337/.416/.596 with an OPS of 1.012. He hit .337 with 217 hits, 41 home runs, 106 RBIs, 73 stolen bases and 149 runs scored in 159 games. Acuna Jr. became the first player in MLB history to have 40 home runs and 60 stolen bases in the same season, joining the 40-60 club for the first time in his career.

Despite an incredible regular season, the Atlanta Braves couldn’t do much in the postseason as they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in four games in the NLDS showdown.

With most of their hitting core still intact, the Braves are one of the teams that could contend for the World Series in the 2024 season.