After nearly losing their entire 10.5-game lead in the NL East over the span of six weeks, the Braves have quietly pushed it back out to 6.0 games, thanks to some better play of their own and some really poor baseball from the Phillies, who’ve lost six of seven and can’t seem to find anything offensively.
Now they have an opportunity to really take a stranglehold on the rest of the NL East, with seemingly everything beginning to go their way.
Chris Sale will take the mound for the nightcap of Atlanta’s doubleheader with the Mets, and in Game 1 it’ll be the season debut of AJ Smith-Shawver, possibly the brightest young arm in the organization. The 23-year-old toes the rubber for the first time since May of last year, when he underwent Tommy John surgery that’s kept him out for exactly 14 months.
The stuff he showed on the farm was encouraging — touching 100 MPH on the radar gun with his heater and pairing it with some lively secondary offerings — but it’s always a little different when the world is watching, especially against a division rival that isn’t going to give the Braves anything.
Smith-Shawver’s return comes just one game after Ronald Acuña Jr. rejoined the lineup. Atlanta is starting to get its big guns back, and we’re still not close to seeing this team at full strength. The trade deadline looms next Monday, with the Braves expected to add multiple impact players — and Sean Murphy, Robert Suarez, and Spencer Schwellenbach could all find themselves on the roster well before the postseason, though some of their outlooks appear more promising than others.
But today is all about Chris Sale and AJ Smith-Shawver. The youngster has a chance to send a message that he can be a permanent piece of the Braves rotation, someone they could potentially rely on in a postseason setting, while the veteran can add to his already exquisite case for a second NL Cy Young award in three seasons. And it all takes place against a Mets team that’s just asking to be put out of its misery.
—
(Photo by John Adams/Icon Sportswire)