Finishing the season with a 91–71 record, the Braves won the NL Wild Card, only to be eliminated in the NLDS by the San Francisco Giants in four games.
Frank Wren began the offseason for the Atlanta Braves with the acquisition of relief pitcher Scott Proctor to a split contract.
December 9, 2009: The Braves traded closer Rafael Soriano to the Tampa Bay Rays for relief pitcher Jesse Chavez.
April 5, 2010: During the first inning of a 16–5 Braves walloping of the Chicago Cubs on Opening Day, rookie Jason Heyward launched a three-run home run during his first Major League at-bat.
The late rally was capped by a Brooks Conrad pinch-hit grand slam that scored the final four runs to win the game by one.
August 22, 2010: Facing the Chicago Cubs, Mike Minor struck out twelve batters through six innings, setting an Atlanta Braves single-game rookie strikeout record.
August 27, 2010: In the ninth inning of a 1–7 loss to the Florida Marlins, Braves veteran closer Billy Wagner recorded his 1,170th career strikeout, getting Mike Stanton.
October 3, 2010: Entering the final scheduled regular-season game of the year tied for the NL Wild Card lead, the Atlanta Braves defeated the Phillies in an 8–7 victory in front of a sold-out crowd at Turner Field.
October 8, 2010: In the tenth inning of Game 2 of the NLDS, Braves closer Billy Wagner injured himself while fielding a bunted ball by Giants center-fielder Andrés Torres.
Thursday, October 7, 2010 – 9:37 p.m. (ET) at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California Starting pitchers: Derek Lowe (Braves) & Tim Lincecum (Giants).
The run was the only one Lincecum needed, as the Giants' ace was dominant, pitching a complete game shutout, allowing only two hits and striking out a franchise record 14 while walking only one.
Jonny Venters, Peter Moylan, Michael Dunn, and Craig Kimbrel combined to pitch the final 2+2⁄3 innings of the Braves loss.
Friday, October 8, 2010 – 9:37 p.m. (ET) at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California Starting pitchers: Tommy Hanson (Braves) & Matt Cain (Giants).
The Giants jumped on the board in the bottom of the first inning, taking a quick 3–0 lead as Pat Burrell hit a three-run home run, following a Freddy Sanchez single and a Buster Posey walk.
Braves manager Bobby Cox was ejected from the game in the top of the second inning, arguing that Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff's foot did not stay on base on an Álex González ground-out.
Braves first baseman Derrek Lee hit a lead-off single in the top of the sixth inning and advanced to second base on Pat Burrell's fielding error.
After consecutive singles by Lee and McCann, the Giants brought in closer Brian Wilson for a six-out save; however, the next hitter, Melky Cabrera, hit an RBI ground ball that scored Lee from third base and Cabrera beat the throw to first base due to Giants' third baseman Pablo Sandoval's throwing error.
In the bottom of the tenth inning, two consecutive bunts (one resulting in a single, one sacrifice) knocked Braves closer Billy Wagner out of the game because of injury.
Relieving the injured Wagner, Kyle Farnsworth hit the next batter, Freddy Sanchez, then walked Huff to load the bases.
Sunday, October 10, 2010 – 4:37 p.m. (ET) at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia Starting pitchers: Jonathan Sánchez (Giants) & Tim Hudson (Braves).
Cody Ross, the next batter, lofted a pop fly that was dropped by Atlanta second baseman Brooks Conrad, giving San Francisco a 1–0 lead.
Dunn was then pulled for a right-hander, Peter Moylan, who induced a grounder from Buster Posey, which proceeded to bounce through the legs of Conrad, the second baseman's third error of the game.
McCann answered with a home run of his own in the bottom of the inning off the Giants' rookie starter, Madison Bumgarner, to take back the lead.
Left-handed Giants reliever Javier López entered the game with two outs in the eighth, and pinch-runner Nate McLouth as the tying run at second base.
With one out, Giants closer Brian Wilson walked Rick Ankiel and Eric Hinske to put the winning run on base.