Falcons invite Braves' Weiss to pads after brawl tackle

Atlanta Falcons invited Braves manager Walt Weiss to join them after his tackle during a benches-clearing brawl in Atlanta's 7-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels on April 7, 2026, at Angel Stadium. The incident erupted in the bottom of the fifth inning when Angels designated hitter Jorge Soler, upset by a pitch near his head from Braves starter Reynaldo López, charged the mound. Weiss, 62, rushed from the dugout and leveled the 6-foot-3, 235-pound Soler with a textbook shoulder tackle.

Weiss aimed to neutralize Soler before he could injure anyone. "I love Soler. We were teammates here," Weiss said. "But that’s a big man, and so I just felt I've gotta get him off his feet because he’s gonna hurt somebody. And so that was my instinct, just to get in there and get Jorge off his feet, yeah, because he was on a warpath."

Weiss served as assistant coach on Atlanta's 2021 World Series championship team, where Soler earned most valuable player honors as a teammate. The Falcons posted a screenshot of the tackle on X with the caption, "Come put on the pads, Skip."

The Braves (7-5) host the Angels (6-6) in the series finale Thursday at 4:07 p.m. ET.