Well the Braves’ position in the playoffs may be clear (the third seed in the NL), but their opponent is far from clear, with the Padres, Phillies, and Cubs all very close to clinching wild-card spots, but within 0.5 games of each other, pending the Padres’ result against the Dodgers. With the return of Robert Suarez and the seemingly missed bullet of Ronald Acuna’s injury scare Tuesday, the Braves seem about as healthy as they could hope going into the playoffs. That said, the offense and pitching are both serious concerns. The pitching is fairly obvious, as the Braves have Chris Sale and a strong bullpen, but Tyler Mahle is a questionable second starter for a playoff team even with his phenomenal performance for Atlanta and behind him is a mess in the rotation. The offense has been a struggle for months now really and has a 98 wRC+ on the season. Ronald Acuna has looked like his prime self of late, but one man can only do so much. The talent is there but the consistency has not. Perhaps this will be the year for the offense to show up in the postseason after a number of years of high quality regular season offense, followed by disappointing playoff production.
Braves News
Ronald Acuna is walking without a limp and is expected back in the lineup Thursday, after fouling a ball off his shin on Tuesday.
Robert Suarez returned from the IL after a lengthy absence, with Owen Murphy optioned to make space.
The Braves snagged a low-scoring walk-off win over the Reds in a meaningless game for both teams, featuring dominance from Chris Sale.
MLB News
The Rays have ruled out star pitcher Shane McClanahan from their divisional round series.
Aaron Judge still hopes to play in the wild-card series for the Yankees, as he remains on the IL one week out.
The Dodgers activated stars Shohei Ohtani off the IL and Tarik Skubal off the bereavement list.
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