Despite a winning record throughout most of the season they finished the campaign with an 80-82 mark, tied for second with the Houston Astros, 12 games behind the San Diego Padres.
Mario Soto threw several brushback pitches at Braves slugger Claudell Washington.
While they were doing that, Soto fired the baseball into the crowd of players, striking Braves coach Joe Pignatano.
He was suspended three games for this incident; Washington received a five-game suspension for shoving (umpire) Lanny Harris.
From August 4 to September 9 the Braves posted a 12-23 record that reduced them to 69-74 with an eleven-game deficit with 19 games to play.
The Braves' regular season is most remembered for an August 12 game at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium against the San Diego Padres.
From the start, the game was tense and errupted into a series of brawls which ended with a total of 13 ejections and 5 arrests.
Virgil, Krol, Whitson, Booker, Lefferts, Bevacqua, Flannery, Nettles and Gossage for the Padres (all undisclosed) and Moore ($350) and Pérez ($300) for the Braves were all fined but not suspended.
Infielders Other batters Coaches Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg.