Two Key Players begins rehab assignment, p0ssible return was officially confirmed with the intention of….
The Braves may have lost a heartbreaker last night, but they still have the opportunity to take three out of four games against the Dodgers, and more importantly, a huge reinforcement could be rejoining the team this week. Per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, Ozzie Albies will play second base for the Gwinnett Stripers as he begins a short rehab assignment and could be back with the Braves by Friday.
As we’ve seen all season, it’s difficult to come back after a long time off and make an immediate impact, particularly offensively. With that being said, just having Ozzie Albies back in the dugout and contributing should provide a major boost to the Braves morale down the stretch. Whatever he provides with the stick will be the icing on the cake.
Ozzie Albies last appeared for the Braves on July 21st, meaning it’s taken him right about eight weeks to come back from a fractured wrist. Going off that time frame, it is possible the Braves have both Albies and Austin Riley in the lineup at some point if they can make it to the postseason.
The Braves will give the fifth spot in the lineup to Ramon Laureano on Monday night as they go for a series win over the Dodgers. I don’t really get what’s going on with Laureano vis-a-vis Jarred Kelenic, and the insanity of “this guy bats fifth when he’s playing but sometimes we bench him to get the platoon advantage” has been present so much this year that it’s losing its ‘s’ and just becoming inanity, but it is what it is.
As for the Dodgers, well, this is the same lineup they rolled out against Chris Sale in Game Two, which ended as a Braves BABIP-fueled clobberfest. May the same thing happen unto this Dodgers lineup again, or something.
Despite the Braves’ lineup being roughly half castoffs at this point, none of them have faced Yoshinobu Yamamoto yet. Jorge Soler had a chance as Yamamoto faced the Giants in May, but it just so happened to be when Soler was on the shelf with a shoulder strain. So, it’ll be a new experience for everyone in this lineup. Whether it’ll be a good one, well… probably not. But that’s why they play the games.
Last night was yesterday, and this is now. The Atlanta Braves have taken two of the first three games vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers at home, but let one slip through the cracks that could come back to haunt them on Sunday night. Atlanta enters play at 81-68 on the season, all tied up with the arch rival New York Mets for the final NL Wild Card spot in. New York happens to play the Washington Nationals.
Admittedly, this may be asking a lot out of Max Fried with the consistently inconsistent Braves offense backing him up, but do they want to be pitching in October or not? Not to say that Fried has hurt his free agency stock, but he is not the pitcher that everyone was clamoring about all offseason long. He was an All-Star, but has been the third-best pitcher in the Atlanta rotation for this season.
