The Atlanta Braves are taking on the Pittsburgh Pirates in the final series of the season after just ending a ten game win streak.
In case anyone was wondering, the record for the longest win streak from a team that had been eliminated from the playoffs was the 1915 White Sox. They finished out their season with an eleven game win streak. It should be noted that there were fewer playoff spots back then and they had ninety-one wins and still came in third in their division.
For approximately the entire
first half of the season, it was the offense that was scrutinized the most on the Braves. Believe it or not, they are currently thirteenth in MLB in runs scored. What has really killed them is the one-run games. No other team in MLB has played more one-run contests than the Braves and only the White Sox have a worst record in such games. If the Braves had won even half of their one-run games they would be in a playoff spot right now. Just look at the Guardians, who have a run differential that is within one run of the Braves, and they lead their division.
Although the Braves are eliminated, we can still have some fun and see if the offense will score enough runs to put the Braves on a positive run differential on the season if the pitching holds up. We can also see fan favorites hopefully pad their stats some.
If you love lineup construction, this has been an interesting year for the Braves. We have seen a large number of different lineups this year. We have seen plays like Marcell Ozuna bat third at one point, and eighth in another. We have seen more players DH this season than we have since Ozuna was not on the roster.
Today, we have another fun one. Brett Wisely is making his third appearance for the Braves and is getting the start with Albies being on the IL. He is starting over former starting SS Nick Allen. Ozuna and Harris have swapped spots in the order.
The Braves will be facing Mitch Keller and Ronald Acuña has eighteen at-bats against him with three HRs, a .389 average, and 1.310 OPS. Matt Olson has also done well in his ten at-bats with a .500 average. The same can’t be said for some others. Ha-Seong Kim who has struggled the most, is hitless in nine at-bats. Profar has a .599 OPS, yes OPS (not average) in fourteen at-bats, Ozuna has a .334 OPS in twelve at-bats, and Harris has a .600 OPS in ten at-bats although he does have a .300 average.
No player on the Pirates has more than five at-bats against their former teammate of this season, Joey Wentz. Tommy Pham is the player with the most at-bats and owns a 1.400 OPS in that small sample.
First pitch is 7:15 EDT
