I think the main thing to say about today’s lineup is that, yeah, okay, sure, let’s rejigger stuff because David Peterson is a southpaw, but…
Ozzie Albies has a .252 wOBA and .293 xwOBA against left-handed pitchers this year. Whatever approach changes he’s implemented or attempted to implement have completely destroyed his ability to do the thing he was best at: crushing left-handers. Oops. But also, maybe they should pretending, 140 PAs against lefties later, that it’s the same as it was.
Insert the usual “boy the only way to get Drake Baldwin the Rookie of the Year award is for him to go on a tear and when he’s not playing he can’t start a tear so… welp” whinging here, too. Sean Murphy hitting below Nacho Alvarez Jr. would crack me up, but if there’s one thing I’ve definitely learned from this season, it’s that whoever makes decisions on the Braves clearly has favorites and not-favorites, and the favorites will get to do whatever they’re doing, good or bad, pretty much forever, while the not-favorites have to contend with extreme recency bias. So it goes.
This is actually the second time Murphy has hit eighth this season — the first time was his first start of the year, where he hit behind Bryan De La Cruz and Jarred Kelenic. A weird fact about this season is that the Braves’ most-commonly-used lineup to this point, despite the fact that we’re in late August, is still one where Alex Verdugo hit leadoff.
The entire lineup is pretty familiar with Peterson at this point, with a collective .339 wOBA and .374 xwOBA in 133 PAs. Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson, and Nick Allen have all crushed Peterson in prior matchups, while Michael Harris II and Murphy have struggled.
No Starling Marte for the Mets, as Ronny Mauricio makes an appearance. This is also a new lineup for New York, but that’s not that weird since Brandon Nimmo is out.
This nonet for the Mets has crushed Elder to date, with a combined .400 wOBA and .430 xwOBA in 61 PAs. Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, and Pete Alonso have seriously NSFW numbers against Elder (all have a .500+ xwOBA and a .470+ wOBA, with Lindor and Soto each having a .750+ wOBA), while Brett Baty, Mauricio, and Luis Torrens have struggled, albeit in only a few PAs.
