Well, trying to explain the Atlanta Braves lineup configuration these days (any days?) is somewhere between a fool’s errand and conversing with the abyss. In any case, Ha-Seong Kim will be batting cleanup tonight, while Ronald Acuña Jr. remains mired in the six-hole.
Kim hasn’t actually hit particularly well in the handful of games he’s had with his new team (.294 xwOBA), though he’s had fine-enough outputs (.330 wOBA) in the process. That
said, while he’s had only six PAs against lefties so far, they’ve almost all gone fairly well, as he has just one out in the process (.642 xwOBA, .749 wOBA). I’m not saying anyone should base anything on six PAs, and I’m not even saying the Braves are doing so tonight with regard to Kim’s spot in the batting order… but maybe they are?
Drake Baldwin missed last week’s showdown against Shota Imanaga, but the other eight batters in this lineup have faced him at least once before. Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson have both crushed Imanaga in just a handful of PAs; Albies homered off him last week. Collectively, these eight guys bring a .379 wOBA / .362 xwOBA in 39 prior PAs against Imanaga.
As for the Cubs, well, there are few surprises:
One of the pseudo-surprises is that Ian Happ is hitting second; he has rarely done so this season and this will be just his ninth start of 2025 in that spot. Nico Hoerner also usually hits somewhere other than fifth; this will be his tenth start in that spot. Willi Castro playing center while Pete Crow-Armstrong slots in at DH is a little weird, but not that weird, and that’s part of the reason the Cubs got Castro, anyway.
Every player in this lineup has faced Bryce Elder before, aside from Pete Crow-Armstrong, who had a day off last week when Elder pitched against his team. Still, no one has double-digit PAs against Elder, and we’re talking about a collective 40 PAs with a pretty ineffectual .252 wOBA and .322 xwOBA against the Atlanta right-hander — though, in fairness, that’s because Elder was stellar against the Cubs last week, and that makes up a huge chunk of those 40 PAs.
