ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – The Atlanta Braves are already off to a stronger start than they were at this point last season.

Coming off a 76-86 campaign, the Braves opened the 2026 season with a series win over the Kansas City Royals, highlighted by a thrilling Saturday victory when Dominic Smith hit a walk-off grand slam to complete a comeback.

Dominic Smith crushes walk-off grand slam to put Braves past Royals

The team is now three games into a 13-game stretch to start the season and will continue Monday when the Braves host the Athletics at Truist Park for a three-game series.

The Athletics, who were swept by Toronto in their season opener, are searching for their first win. Meanwhile, the Braves, now in the Walt Weiss era, hope to build on their hot hitting despite lingering questions about their pitching staff.

Pitching probables

Monday, 7:15 p.m. – RHP Bryce Elder vs. LHP Jacob Lopez

Tuesday, 7:15 p.m. – TBD vs. RHP Aaron Civale

Wednesday, 12:15 p.m. – LHP Chris Sale vs. RHP Luis Severino

Bryce Elder is set to make his first start of the season Monday against the Athletics after a mixed spring, posting a 4.73 ERA over 13.1 innings, including one outing where he allowed five runs in 3.1 innings.

With injuries to Spencer Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider and Hurston Waldrep, Atlanta’s pitching staff is thin beyond Chris Sale, Reynaldo López, Grant Holmes and Elder. As of Sunday, the Braves have not announced a starter for Tuesday’s matchup against Athletics right-hander Aaron Civale.

Hitters to watch

Braves: Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II have started the season strong after struggling early in 2025, each going 4-for-11 with a home run on opening day. Austin Riley also has four hits to start the season. While it’s only three games, all three appear to have put last year’s struggles behind them.

Athletics: Shea Langeliers has opened the 2026 season with a bang, crushing three home runs in the team’s first two games. In fact, he’s the only player on the A’s roster with more than two hits through the team’s first three games. Another guy to watch is left-handed slugger Nick Kurtz, despite his early season struggles. The 23-year-old hit 36 home runs in 117 games last season en route to the American League Rookie of the Year award.

Injury report

Braves:

• RHP Daysbel Hernández (shoulder)
• RHP Joe Jimenez (knee)
• SS Ha-Seong Kim (finger)
• C Sean Murphy (hip)
• RHP Spencer Schwellenbach (elbow)
• RHP Spencer Strider (oblique)
• RHP AJ Smith-Shawver (elbow)
• RHP Hurston Waldrep (elbow)
• LHP Joey Wentz (knee)
• LHP Danny Young (elbow)

Athletics:

How to watch Braves on Gray

The Braves and Gray Media will simulcast 25 games for free, over-the-air to fans across Braves Country through Braves on Gray local television stations, reaching 26 markets throughout the Southeast.

For broadcast times, channel information and additional details, fans are encouraged to click here and check local Gray Media station listings in their markets.

Copyright 2026 WANF. All rights reserved.

The “No Kings” protest in Atlanta took a turn for the weird as a masked artist dragged unhinged cosplayers dressed as President Trump and Vice President JD Vance behind her wheelchair.

Video of the street protest sideshow circulating online shows activist Jessica Blinkhorn clad in a black sheer skirt, a leather tube top and a full facemask reminiscent of “Mad Max: Fury Road” villain Immortan Joe seated in a motorized wheelchair as her fellow dress-up players awkwardly gyrate to techno music.

The Georgia State University teacher and self-described “DOGEWALKER” holds a metal leash in one hand, which is connected to a collar worn by a person wearing a Trump mask and dressed in his signature blue suit, red tie and MAGA hat, and a woman who appears to be mimicking Erika Kirk.

Dancing to her left is someone wearing a Vice President JD Vance mask wearing a sandwich sign inexplicably reading, “Have u said thank-u yet?”

Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dress-alikes are also represented in the merry little band of dancing demonstrators, along with an unidentified man dressed in strappy bondage gear.

“This is performance as protest. This is art in action,” Blinkhorn wrote in an Instagram post accompanying the unhinged video.

“DOGEWALKER exists to remind this nation: these are elected officials. They are meant to serve the people. And when they don’t do their f–king job– they get reined back in,” she ranted.

Similar protests kicked off in cities around the country as the Iran war entered its second month, though few managed to capture the unhinged and perplexing spirit of the scene on display in Atlanta.

Blinkhorn has been awarded in the art world for her performance pieces about sex and disability. He received a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 2024 — a prestigious award that comes with tens of thousands of dollars in grant money — for her project SPANKBOX.

The art “depicts individuals with physical disabilities in hypersexualized poses and situations,” according to the fellowship.

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The Atlanta Hawks pulled this win off because they have the two best players in the game and the Kings don’t have anything close.

While that may sound fairly obvious, it was noticeable because there’s an argument to be made that the Hawks let their foot off the pedal for long stretches of the game and played down to their competition. The Kings made it a game despite the injuries by leaning into the drive-and-kick game, making their open threes and doing their best to keep up with the Hawks in transition. However, Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker were too good.

With the game tied at 97-97, Atlanta went on a 20-6 run to take definitive control of the game behind superstar performances from their two best players. Johnson had 26 points, 10 assists and five rebounds while burying several momentum threes when the Hawks needed him most. However, NAW was more consistent from start to finish. He scored 27 points on just 14 shots, hitting 4/9 from deep and going a perfect 9-9 from the charity stripe.

Sacramento gave it their all despite the injuries and got a vintage performance from DeMar DeRozan with 22 points on 9-18 shooting and even two threes. Daeqwon Plowden, Killian Hayes and Maxime Raynaud all had good games as well in order to give the Kings some life. Ultimately, though, the NBA is defined by star power and the Hawks had more of it tonight.

Sluggish To Start

The Hawks were missing a few names tonight, but there’s no real excuse for the way that they played tonight to start. They let the Kings control the first quarter and then had to claw their way back with four minutes left in the second quarter. Precious Achiuwa started the game out strong, scoring 12 points in the first half, and Maxime Raynaud had some nice moments on offense. However, it was a pretty poor effort on defense for the Hawks and they needed to turn things around in order to get back into the game.

Even so, ending the first half by shooting 33% from deep and only holding a 30-28 advantage in point paints was uninspiring from Atlanta. Onyeka Okongwu’s absence definitely lingered, but it wasn’t a terrible start from Jock Landale. Landale chipped in 12 points and six rebounds, posting a team-high +23 alongside Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Walker. He finished the game with a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds, coming alive in the fourth quarter and burying a huge momentum three-pointer. However, the Christian Koloko minutes went terribly for Atlanta. He was a -11 in just six minutes. With Okongwu gone, their struggles on the defensive glass have been evident and it’s going to be a flaw they have to work around for the rest of the season.

Zacch Attack Back

Zaccharie Risacher is still one of the best shooters on the Hawks when he’s feeling it and tonight was a great example of that. He scored 10 points in 11 first-half minutes while nailing two threes. It provided a nice counterpoint to Johnson and NAW. His off-ball movement also played a role in the Hawks getting 20 assists in the first half. Atlanta’s done a great job of not letting the ball get stuck in most of their games this season, but that wasn’t necessarily true against the Celtics. They rectified those mistakes early.

He was a lot more quiet in the second half, but the Hawks really needed him in the first half to keep them in the game and he stepped up despite the lack of heavy minutes.

No Daniels, Hawks Scramble

Although it’s very possible to argue that Nickeil Alexander-Walker is also a contender for this title, Dyson Daniels has quietly been the second-most important player for the Hawks this season. There is no one on the team who brings his combination of passing, rebounding and defense. Even though the Hawks got 10 steals to the Kings’ five and passed the ball well tonight on the whole, their defensive communication was off for a lot of the night. The Kings got great minutes out of Killian Hayes and the overall operation looked very sloppy tonight because they didn’t have Daniels helping to organize things. His presence also makes a big difference for Jalen Johnson. Johnson quietly had to fight for a lot of his points tonight and got visibly frustrated at multiple points in the game.

Leaving Daequon Plowden wide open to tie the game with eight minutes in the fourth quarter is an excellent example of the little things that Daniels adds to the Hawks. His game runs completely contrary to the idea that a player must be a passable shooter from deep in order to add value on the court.

Mastering the Margins

The Hawks got the performances they needed from their stars, but they also did a good job of taking care of the details by the end of the game. It wasn’t a complete effort all the way, but it was encouraging to see the Hawks win the possession battle. They only had 12 turnovers to Sacramento’s 15 and ended up tying the Kings with 27 defensive rebounds apiece after a shaky start on the glass.

On defense, they stole the ball ten times and ran the floor well in transition. The lack of a paint advantage was noticeable – the Kings out-scored them in the paint by a 56-44 margin. However, it ended up not making much of a difference because they took care of everything else.

It’s a good win for the Hawks, but a much stiffer test comes up on Monday in the re-match against the Celtics. This is an important game for the Hawks due to the 76ers beating Charlotte and keeping possession of the seventh seed. They’ll have plenty of competition for the No. 6 seed down the stretch and the Eastern Conference matchups are going to loom large in April.