Sean Murphy will catch and Drake Baldwin will serve as the designated hitter for the Braves tonight, as Atlanta looks to move one step closer to a playoff berth and trim the gap in the division with a win.
The pitching move gives JR Ritchie another chance on the big stage after what the source describes as a hot run in Triple-A. He has been brought up so Chris Sale can get a little extra rest, but the Braves may need the offense to carry more of the load if Ritchie runs into trouble in his second shot.
Atlanta’s bats have been productive over the full season, ranking eighth in MLB in runs scored. But that edge has faded lately.
Since the start of September, the Braves have fallen to 16th in the league in scoring. Outside of Lane Thomas, that downturn has not been tied to injuries, and a timely surge now would matter heading into the postseason.
The matchup in the box isn’t a soft one. The Braves will see Shota Imanaga, who has a 3.88 ERA on the season and a 3.13 mark over his last sixteen starts.
Atlanta does have a few hitters with encouraging history against him. Ozzie Albies has gone 12 times against Imanaga and posted a 1.334 OPS with two home runs.
Matt Olson has 11 at-bats against him and has hit .455 with a 1.136 OPS. Drake Baldwin has six at-bats in the matchup and owns a 1.333 OPS, including a homer.
The rest of the Braves’ projected lineup either has no track record against Imanaga or has not handled him well.
There’s also a reason to think Atlanta can force the Cubs’ bullpen into the game early. The Braves exposed that relief group last night, and Chicago’s bullpen has one of the biggest gaps in MLB between its actual ERA and expected ERA, a sign they’ve been living a little on the lucky side. If the Braves show patience, run up Imanaga’s pitch count, and get into the bullpen, they have a real chance to chip away at that magic number tonight.
The Cubs, for their part, have plenty of firepower. Pete Crow-Armstrong, the MVP frontrunner, and household name Alex Bregman headline a lineup that leads MLB in runs scored this season. Still, their offense has cooled in September, where they rank 11th since the start of the month.
As for Ritchie, the Cubs have seen him once before in May. In that outing, he allowed just two hits but also issued three walks over 4.1 innings. That’s the only matchup history available between the sides heading into tonight.
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With a 4 1/2-game lead in the National League East and nine games left, the math is working in the Braves favor, but the bigger payoff is what this setup could mean in the postseason. Sale is now positioned to open Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series on extra rest, and the only real question left is whether this measured approach pays off exactly the way Atlanta hopes when the games start carrying a little more weight. [Read more 🡒]