The Braves welcome the Marlins after a near sweep of the state of Texas last week.
Unfortunately, Sunday was not so sweet for the Braves.
After winning their first five games of the week against the two teams in last year’s ALCS, it was the Rangers who showed their power in a 6-4 victory over the Braves. Travis D’Arnaud got a day of rest after his historic first few games of the weekend. And though Marcell Ozuna went deep once again, the Braves were not able to pull off the comeback this time.
However, it is hard to complain about the week the Braves had and the start to their season overall. Not only are the Braves 14-6 and once again producing the best offense in the bigs, but they have also had quite a bit of success against some worthy opponents. Atlanta has now played each of the participants in last year’s NLCS and ALCS, and the Braves are 10-2 in those games. The fact that this has occurred even with the injuries the Braves have experienced makes it even more impressive.
With the full week ahead at home, hopefully the good play for the Braves will continue.
Braves News
Both Ozzie Ablies and Sean Murphy continue to progress in their rehab. Albies will begin fielding activities while Murphy continues to increase his throwing efforts:
Both Sean Murphy (oblique) and Ozzie Albies (fractured big toe) have increased their activities in the past couple of days. Murphy is doing more throwing, still not swinging. Albies was given OK to increase activities, doing some fielding work but not running.
— David O’Brien (@DOBrienATL) April 21, 2024
Bryce Elder will be called up to the majors to start for the Braves on Monday. Meanwhile, it appears Darius Vines will be optioned to the minors. Elder could be followed by Max Fried on Tuesday and Reynaldo López on Wednesday.
A new Ronald Acuna Jr. bobblehead will be part of the excitement in the series against the Marlins.
Spencer Schwellenbach showed plenty of swing and miss stuff over the weekend for Rome
MLB News
After a 5-1 week, the Braves are back at the top of the MLB.com power rankings.
Even with the Braves excellent play as of late, the Phillies have kept the pace as they finished their home stand with an 8-2 record after another win on Sunday. They actually have now won sixth straight.
The Marlins got a bit of momentum with a 6-3 win over the Cubs on Sunday before they head to Atlanta.
The Mets placed reliever Brooks Raley on the 15-day IL.
Brewers pitcher D.L. Hall was placed on the 15-day IL with a knee injury.
Red Sox slugger Triston Casas was placed on the 10-day IL with a rib injury.
Christian Javier of the Astros was also moved to the 15-day IL. Spencer Arrighetti will get additional starts in Javier’s rotation spot.
Former Atlanta infielder Vaughn Grissom continues to work his way closer to making his debut for the Red Sox.