NLDS
Chop On!
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Everything that the Braves have heard for 6 months is that “if the Braves have to rely on pitching, they’re in trouble.” What did the Bravos do? Only churn out the best record in baseball and prepare for a NL Division Series match-up against NL East rival Philadelphia Phillies that will serve as a re-match of the 2022 NLDS.
The Braves rang out a record of 104-58 and joined only the Orioles and Dodgers as the only three teams in MLB with 100 wins. A big part has been the best offense in baseball scoring the most, and the biggest run differential in MLB this year.
A big question for Atlanta has been the ace of the staff Max Fried, who has been dealing with a blister on his pitching hand.
In the downtime between the end of the regular season and the Saturday beginning of the Phillies series, the Braves had 3 days of simulated games between current players and minor-leaguers split into two teams.
In the Tuesday intersquad game, Fried threw with a band-aid on the pitching hand in question just for a little precaution. All indications after the outing from Manager Brian Snitker and Braves personnel point to Fried being a go for the NLDS roster, and potentially starting game 2 on Monday. Signs would lead Braves fans to expect the series opening nod to go to right-hander Spencer Strider.
As much as Braves fans enjoyed the down years for the Phillies (just one year over .500 from 2012-2022), it’s good to have the Braves-Phillies rivalry back to it’s best. This year in the 13 games head-to-head, the Braves hold the 8-5 lead as the two look to the best of 5 game NLDS.
With the best record in Baseball, the Braves have locked up home field advantage all the way through to the World Series.
Atlanta will host game one on Saturday at Truist Park with a 6:07 first pitch.
Game two from Atlanta will come Monday at the same time before the series shifts to Philadelphia for games 3 and (if necessary) 4 at Citizen’s Bank Park.
If the series goes the distance, the deciding game 5 will return to Cobb County in metro-Atlanta.
The Phillies come into the series with a 90-72 record in the regular season and finished 14 games back of the Braves in the NL East.
After sweeping the Marlins in a best-of-three series in the Wild Card round, the Phillies come into Atlanta behind an offense led by Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos, who each drove in over 100 runs, and Bryce Harper, who missed just shy of 40 games earlier in the year with injury.
On the mound, the Phanatics are led by the duo of Aaron Nola and Zack Weeler who both threw over 190 innings and fanned 200 hitters.
Outside of Jeff Hoffman (the only Phillies reliever with a sub-3.00 ERA), the bullpen for the Phils is familiar to Atlanta fans. Craig Kimbrel capped off 23 saves to the tune of a 3.26 ERA while fighting off some nagging injuries.
So, what’s different this postseason for the Braves, who look to get the bad taste of the 2022 NLDS that the Phillies won 3-1?
A big key is the pure health of the squad. Going into the postseason last year, off the top, they were without infielder Ozzie Albies who only played 64 games last year because of a broken right pinky and broken left foot.
Spencer Strider was trying to fend off an oblique injury that pushed him to a game 3 start. He threw 2 strong innings before the 3rd seeing him only recording 1 out.
This postseason, the Braves franchise have adopted the mantra “As One” to symbolize that the Braves “team” isn’t just the players on the field, but also coaches, staff, front office, and even the fans.
So “As One” it’s time to Chop On Braves Country!
The Injury Bug
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The playoffs begin this week and the Atlanta Braves await either the St. Louis Cardinals or the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday at Suntrust Park.
Both will provide unique challenges and Atlanta shouldn’t breathe easy simply because they don’t have the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first round (it is, I will say, massively impressive how the Brewers have clinched a playoff spot and have stayed within striking distance of the NL Central title even after losing last year’s MVP Christian Yelich to injury just a few weeks ago).
It isn’t as though the Braves can rest easy knowing they’re at the height of their powers, either. The team was healthy for so much of the 2019 season, with the exception of injuries to Nick Markakis and Dansby Swanson; both of which took them out of the game for significant periods of time.
However, as I’ve pointed out before, the backups and new acquisitions stepped up and showed out in the absence of the two Atlanta lineup mainstays.
But now, at the worst possible time, the injury bug has started to bite. The Charlie Culberson hit by pitch was a freak accident, nothing really to say about that. But it took out a reliable bench player and pinch hitter that would have doubtlessly gotten huge opportunities to make a difference in October.
The other side of that same coin is Johan Camargo, who has had a fairly miserable season but showed signs of turning things around in the minor leagues, who offers the same defensive versatility as Culberson.
Camargo would have been the obvious choice to make the roster as a super utilityman in Charlie’s place, but it looks like he’s down for the count as well.
That brings us to the other two (three, sort of) injuries, all due respect to Culberson and Camargo, the minor injuries to Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuna Jr. are more major.
Freeman was benched for a few games to heal a wrist injury from last week. He returned for the season finale series against New York, but that nagging wrist had really been doing on number on Freddie’s production at the plate. He may be playing through it, but the 3-hole hitter is playing at a disadvantage.
Of equal (maybe greater?) concern is Ronald Acuna, Jr., who hurt his hip during the two-game set against Kansas City last week and was benched for the rest of the regular season so that he could heal up.
This did, disappointingly, prevent Acuna from getting the three steals necessary for him to be the fifth player ever to go 40-40 in a season. The leadoff hitter is the dynamic sparkplug that sets the Braves off and they need him as close to 100% as possible for the playoffs.
Piggybacking off of that is something that probably didn’t seem like it would be as important a week ago as it is now. That is Ender Inciarte being ruled out for the NLDS.
Inciarte has been hurt a lot in 2019, his first stint on the IL coming after a disappointing start to the year and his second coming at an equally disappointing time: just as he seemed to have found his stroke and was hitting well.
Him not being on the DS roster doesn’t seem like it changes much, since the team played so much of the season without him, but the Acuna injury makes Ender’s inability to play hugely significant.
A healthy Ender is a multiple-time Gold Glove winner and could patrol center field while Acuna strains himself less in left but it’s not to be.
The Braves seem confident that Freeman and Acuna will be ready to roll on Thursday. Having an additional three days off can’t hurt. Atlanta has to be aware of their ongoing concerns and can’t afford to underestimate the Brewers or the Cards.
