The players’ protest of Pride Night reminded me of country musician Morgan Wallen walking off of the Saturday Night Live set and posting to social media “Get me to God’s country.” It was such an odd protest, but it did the task of 1) informing me of Morgan Wallen’s existence (and I don’t claim that I’m too cool for school in that regard, I just haven’t heard anything new in a long time for lots of reasons) and 2) reminding me of the awkward — yet effective — social protests that evangelicals love to do. But why am I thinking of Morgan Wallen at a time like this?
Oh yeah, he and Tony Vitello are good friends.
… But, like, SNL invited you on the show, Morgan. What are you complaining about? And your social media post was “Get me to God’s country” overlayed on an image of your private plane. I’m at a loss… oh, right. It’s not supposed to make sense beyond conveying disapproval and being vaguely disruptive. I guess waiting until the very end of the show is the least disruptive disruption you could do to make sure you keep getting invited to these mainstream things, but the shot at New York? Oh, right. That’s for “your base” (he also sells t-shirts with that phrase). Successful people of faith have decided to lead by taking shots at the institutions which have propped them up. Fair enough, I guess. And, it makes sense. If some people of faith take issue with “lifestyles,” then regions of land seems like an emotionally consistent extension.
Okay, not only are Vitello and Wallen friends, one of Wallen’s songs is called “‘98 Braves” — okay, now we’re back on track. This is a series preview about the San Francisco Giants traveling to Atlanta for a three-game series. That song’s about a great team coming up short anyway. From 106-56 to losing to the Padres in the NLCS. (Stares in 1993 Giants). Atlanta’s coming off a 2025 which fell far short of expectations in a much more dramatic way in that they went 76-86. But with a championship in recent memory and a well-managed organization, the fandom certainly thought a run like the 90s teams was in progress.
Well, maybe it is. Last year seems to have been merely an anomaly. Sort of like 2013 was for the championship era Giants. Atlanta’s lineup is excellent, led by Drake Baldwin (158 wRC+), who’s sort of their Bryce Eldridge (sarcasm). Matt Olson continues to be outstanding (team leading 20 HR along with a 143 wRC+), Michael Harris is having a season on par with his sublime 2022 season (when he was 21) where he had a 137 wRC+ (it’s currently 134), Ozzie Albies is having his best season since 2023 (113 wRC+), Ronald Acuna has stopped being a slugger but he’s still a tough out (.373 OBP, 14.8 BB%), and, a trio of former Giants are buttressing all of this talent with solid performances..
Mauricio Dubon (1.5 fWAR) is sort of a dude on this team. Last week, he got this glowing writeup in The Athletic where he sounds a whole lot more confident than he did in his younger days with the team:
“It’s funny because sometimes ‘Oh lefty-righty matchup,’ I think that’s a bunch of bulls—,” Dubón said. “I hit everybody, and (Braves manager Walt Weiss) knows that. For him to give me the trust and go out there and perform, it’s good when the manager has your back.”
Mike Yastrzemski got off to a disastrous start (.200/.258/.252 through May 9th), but has taken off over the past month (.290/.421/.516 since).
Dominic Smith (106 wRC+) is their DH but rather famously, he hit a walk-off grand slam in his first game.
So, keep an eye on those guys.
Meanwhile, the headline is pretty dramatic. A sweep at the hands of these Atlantans is not a foregone conclusion. The Giants took 2 out of 3 last year in a down year, but also 2 out of 3 in 2024. Sure, the Braves have won the series in 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023, but it’s not like the Giants were good in 2024 and 2025. They’re even worse now. Does that mean they have the Braves right where they want them?
Who: San Francisco Giants (29-43) at Atlanta Braves (46-25)
Where: Truist Park | Cobb County, Georgia
When: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 4:15pm PT
National broadcasts: None
Projected starters
Tuesday: Adrian Houser (RHP 2-6, 5.54 ERA) vs. Grant Holmes (RHP 4-2, 4.05 ERA)
Wednesday: Robbie Ray (LHP 4-6, 4.42 ERA) vs. JR Ritchie (RHP 1-1, 3.82 ERA)
Thursday: Landen Roupp (RHP 5-7, 4.24 ERA) vs. Martin Perez (LHP 5-3, 2.90 ERA)
Players to watch
Atlanta
Raisel Iglesias & Robert Suarez: Atlanta is paying market price for two closers and the Giants had probably no shot at signing either this past offseason (in case you were wondering what other closers Buster Posey could’ve thought of instead of Edwin Diaz), but keep your eye on their dominance. They’ve allowed a combined 6 runs (5 earned) in 53.2 innings with 53 strikeouts and 10 walks.
Dubon: He’s hitting .308/.357/.564 here in June with 3 homers and a stolen base. He has a 7% walk rate and 14% strikeout rate over this same stretch (43 PA), too.
Yaz & Dom Smith: Yaz is hitting just .138 over his last 11 games while Dom Smith is hitting .121. Do the Giants know them well enough to keep their bad times rolling or did all that familiarity disappear with the coaching staff turnover?
Giants
Bryce Eldridge: I’d very much like to see what he could do in Truist Park and against the two worst starters in Atlanta’s rotation. Grant Holmes is sporting a 5.26 FIP thanks to a 1.8 HR/9 and JR Ritchie has a 5.15 FIP in part because of a 1.2 HR/9 but mainly a 5.3 BB/9. The Giants might lose every game 9-3, but if all three games feature a 3-run dinger from the rookie, that’d be great.
Robbie Ray: His trade value is quite low, but a solid start against a great team could help salvage some of it.
Rafael Devers: I wrote this scathing piece about how he probably wasn’t going to be much better than a league average hitter (he’s at 95 wRC+ right now) and I would like to eat some crow on this because I’d hate for the only time that happens this season to be because Luis Arraez became an All-Star second baseman in part because of his defense. For the same reasons that Eldridge might thrive, Devers should, too.
Tony Vitello watch
You know, I should mention that Atlanta’s manager is a first timer, too, only he’s former Oakland Athletic Walt Weiss, who has been a longtime major league coach. He sort of backed into the job by default after Brian Snitker announced his retirement, but, you know what? He’s here and thriving.
Prediction time
Morgan Wallen will show up.
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