Preparing for the Cards in the NLDS

I think there is a zero percent chance Bae sits for Hech.

Its not a zero percent chance or else Bowman wouldn't have posted a quote that looks like this:

Let’s just say this is a very important week for Swanson. Braves manager Brian Snitker put Swanson at the top of Sunday’s lineup and he plans to get the shortstop as many plate appearances as possible with the hope the conclusion of his regular season is as promising as the beginning was.

Swanson has produced a MLB-worst .457 OPS dating to Aug. 26, which is when he returned from the injured list. His extended offensive woes might have influenced the two errors committed in Sunday’s loss to the Giants.

The Braves are at their best with Swanson in the lineup. But with Swanson far from his own best, the club may have no choice but to turn to Hechavarria, who has proven to be more than “all glove” while producing a unexpected .892 in 63 plate appearances.

That does everything but straight up say that Swanson must produce this week or he will get benched for the NLDS even if everything suggests he should get out of this (and it does give me Elliot Johnson twitches, although in this case, they can't flat out leave the guy in question off the roster because of injuries). Now sometimes, Bowman has had bad sources, but he's also looked great in other cases, so based off this, it looks like a real story.

So, considering Soroka getting pushed to game 3 and the Swanson situation, the Braves are most certainly ignoring reason to some.
 
Well, Soroka getting pushed to game 3 is official (he's not starting on short rest October 4th), so that part can be discussed (and it has brought mixed feelings). And I didn't say that Bowman has been always correct, its just that there's been times where he's looked very good. So, we can't dismiss the possibility that they bench Dansby.

I'd say it's 50/50 right now.
 
Well, Soroka getting pushed to game 3 is official (he's not starting on short rest October 4th), so that part can be discussed (and it has brought mixed feelings). And I didn't say that Bowman has been always correct, its just that there's been times where he's looked very good. So, we can't dismiss the possibility that they bench Dansby.

I'd say it's 50/50 right now.

Game 2 is on Friday, Soroka is scheduled to go Sunday on a limited pitch count 50-70 or so. He'd still be on normal rest for Game 2 and Game 5. It does seem like he's going Game 3 though.
 
Game 2 is on Friday, Soroka is scheduled to go Sunday on a limited pitch count 50-70 or so. He'd still be on normal rest for Game 2 and Game 5. It does seem like he's going Game 3 though.

edit: ignore me, I'm dumb and thought the 30th was Sunday.
 
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There are not 31 days in this month, it would be 3 days rest.

50-70 pitches maybe makes it more likely that they'd consider him for game 2, but this far of a pushback I think confirms game 3 for him.

Sunday to Friday is normal rest for a starter
 
There are not 31 days in this month, it would be 3 days rest.

50-70 pitches maybe makes it more likely that they'd consider him for game 2, but this far of a pushback I think confirms game 3 for him.

What?

Sunday to Friday is normal rest for starters. But i do agree, it seems he's going Game 3, but nothings set in stone.
 
What?

Sunday to Friday is normal rest for starters. But i do agree, it seems he's going Game 3, but nothings set in stone.

had a dumb moment, I apologize for that. Thought he was pitching the 30th.

However I still don't think you'd push to Sunday if you weren't pulling a move like that. Think that pushback all but confirms it.
 
Cardinals are the most boring team to make the playoffs in a long time. They aren’t good either. Should be an easy series win for the Braves.
 
FG just released their preview:

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/postseason-preview-st-louis-cardinals-vs-atlanta-braves/

Very interesting tidbit at the end...

The gap between what St. Louis can do with four-seamers and everything else is the biggest in baseball. If you include two-seamers, against which the Cardinals are average, the disparity looks even worse due to poor numbers against the slider and change. While the league seems to be moving to the four-seamer, the Braves are one of the top sinker-throwing teams in the game. In the second half, their sinker usage is first in baseball with only the Cubs, Mets, and Mariners throwing fewer four-seamers. Of the Braves starters, Fried and Teheran feature four-seamers, but Soroka, Keuchel, and Foltynewicz all throw their sinkers as their primary fastball.

This might be some insight into why the Braves chose the SPs they did to face the Cards. It should probably inform Fried to use his flat FA sparingly and go with the new SI more often, or the Cards may bomb away on him.
 
Wow - Tomlin will be on the NLDS roster. Teheran will not. The Braves will instead go with a 6-man bench.
 
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