The Atlanta Braves could clinch a playoff spot tonight and could inch closer to clinching the division with a win tonight. JR Ritchie has been on fire in AAA and has been called up to pitch to allow some extra rest for Chris Sale. That being said, the offense may need to score some extra runs to get the win due to the underlying pressure of Ritchie getting his second shot.
If we look at the Braves’ offense for the entire year, they have scored the eighth most runs in MLB. However, since the start
of September, that ranking has dropped all the way down to sixteenth. Other than Lane Thomas, this has not been due to injury. An offensive uptick and getting hot at the right around now would be huge going into the pstseason.
The Braves will be facing Shota Imanaga who owns a 3.88 ERA on the year, but a 3.13 in his last sixteen starts. The Braves do have a few players with a strong history against him. Ozzie Albies has twelve at-bats against him with a 1.334 OPS and two HRs. Matt Olson has eleven at-bats and carries a .455 average and 1.136 OPS. Finally, Drake Baldwin has six at-bats holding a 1.333 OPS to include a HR. Unfortunately, the rest of the starters have either not faced him before or have struggled.
The Braves also exposed the Cubs’ bullpen last night. Their bullpen has one of the biggest spread in MLB between on field ERA and expected ERA (xERA), which means they have been one of the luckiest. If the Braves can have some patience and get Imanaga to drive up his pitch count and get to the bullpen, they have a legitimate shot to shrink that magic number tonight.
The Cubs have the MVP frontrunner Pete Crow-Armstrong and household name Alex Bregman among other stars on their team, so it should come as no shock that they lead MLB in runs scored this season. Fortunately for the Braves, their output has dipped this month where they rank eleventh since the start of September.
JR Ritchie pitched against them in May and only gave up two hits, but also walked three in 4.1 innings. That is the only history we have to go off of in terms of how the Cubs match up against him.
The key today is to get to the Cubs’ bullpen as fast as possible and hope that Ritchie can keep it close. These two items may be a hard ask, but they are possible.
First pitch is at 7:40 EDT.
