We hear it all the time: The postseason is a different animal.
The stakes are different. The strategy is different. And on and on.
Ahead of Game 1 of the National League Division Series, Braves manager Brian Snitker tweaked his lineup – an interesting twist considering he showed a fair amount of consistency with it during the regular season.
The Braves’ top four looked like this for Saturday’s game: Ronald Acuña Jr., Austin Riley, Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies.
Most of the season, it looked like this: Acuña, Albies, Riley, Olson.
“Just a lot of their heavy-leverage guys are left-handed, and just trying to get the right-handers up there more,” Snitker said. “It’s something you know what we’ve done in the past. This is the postseason. This is different than the last 162 games we played. And, you know, a big part of their bullpen are left-handed guys.”
The Braves lost Game 1 , 3-0. It marked the first time they were shut out at home since Aug. 28, 2021.
After the game, Snitker said the lineup changes didn’t have anything to do with the result.
Asked if players were less comfortable in Game 1, Snitker said: “No. When you get in the batter’s box, they don’t know where they’re hitting. No, I don’t. You know what, you get in there, and it doesn’t matter. No.”
The Phillies will deploy lefties Jose Alvarado and Gregory Soto in big spots. Plus, they started lefty Ranger Suarez for Game 1. So the changes made sense.
Even so, Albies, a switch-hitter, actually is better from the right side. Still, Snitker opted to use Riley in that spot, which means the Braves could benefit from Albies’ switch-hitting capability in the middle of their order, in front of the right-handed hitting Marcell Ozuna and left-handed hitting Michael Harris II.
With Suarez on the mound, Kevin Pillar started in left field and hit ninth.
“I think we feel confident any way we are shaped up out there,” Olson said before the game. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter too much what slot you’re in. You gotta go have a good at-bat and be able to mix it up and kind of change up, make some matchups harder. It doesn’t matter too much to us.”
Chavez doesn’t make it, Tonkin does
The reason for not carrying Kyle Wright on the NLDS roster eventually became clear: An MRI revealed he’ll need to undergo right shoulder surgery. He’ll miss the 2024 season.
But what about Jesse Chavez?
Well, it seems the Braves felt he wasn’t ready.
“Jesse has missed three months, and he wasn’t throwing like he’s capable of throwing, pretty much,” Snitker said.
Instead, Michael Tonkin made the roster. Tonkin, a surprise addition to the roster out of spring training, is an incredible success story this season. But he allowed runs in seven of eight outings to end the season – including multiple runs in four of those. Two were three-run outings.
Still, it seems he gives the Braves a dynamic they sought. Plus, the week of rest after the regular-season finale could’ve given him a partial reset.
“I think it was good,” Snitker said. “He threw the ball well in the scrimmages. And on his part, he’s a guy that could throw three innings and then throw the next day if you need him to. I think that’s the value that he brings is not only the versatility, but just the fact that he’s durable.”
A smidge of unfamiliarity
The Braves and Phillies know just about everything about one another.
But there are two guys – Daysbel Hernandez and AJ Smith-Shawver – the Phillies haven’t seen.
“We gotta write up reports, watch tape,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said Saturday. “I haven’t seen Hernández yet. I haven’t had time, but the (Smith-Shawver) guy has got a great arm, up to 100 miles an hour fastball.”
“I don’t know whether they’ll use (Smith-Shawver) out of the bullpen or he’ll start Game 3. I’m not really certain on that, but (we’ll) be ready for those guys.”
One intriguing reliever on the Phillies’ roster is righty Orion Kerkering. The Braves hadn’t faced him before Saturday, when he tossed a scoreless inning.
Kerkering didn’t allow a run over three outings (three innings) in the regular season.
The Phillies drafted Kerkering in 2022, and he rose through the organization this year.
Hernandez ‘pitched his way on’ the roster
Hernandez’s inclusion on the NLDS roster was surprising. It makes sense, though.
He throws hard. His stuff can be nasty. The Phillies haven’t seen him.
He apparently put himself on the radar.
“He pretty much pitched his way on in the intrasquads,” Snitker said. “We threw him back to back, and it was as good as it was when we called him up early on and really liked him. But it was just pretty much the stuff that he showed.”
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