The Atlanta Braves are starting their most hyped series of the year as they face the loaded Los Angeles Dodgers team. Few probably thought before the season started that the Braves would be the team with a better record going into this series.

There have been several reasons why the Braves have been successful, but the offensive rebounds of key players has played a huge role in the early season success. Players like Michael Harris, Ozzie Albies, and Dominic Smith have had surprising rebounds, and the steady players like Matt Olson and reigning ROY Drake Baldwin have chipped in like they hoped they would.

The Braves will be facing Emmet Sheehan on the mound, and believe it or not he debuted back in 2023 and that was the only season he faced the Braves in. No player on the Braves roster in 2023 has faced Sheehan in more than two at-bats so it is hard to make a conclusion on how well they will do against him. The one player that draws the eye is that Ozzie Albies got a hit both times he faced Sheehan.

With the day off the other question was if Michael Harris’ quad will allow him to play CF or not. With him back in CF it allows Walt Weiss to put together the optimal lineup that would include Dominic Smith or Sean Murphy. We did see Harris play LF to give his quad some rest, but ideally we don’t want to see anyone other than him defensively if he is actually healthy. With Sean Murphy back it also brings the question of what the standard lineup will be versus both LHP and RHP starter. Tonight’s lineup may shine a light on that question.

Michael Harris will be in CF after all in a really fun lineup that has him in the cleanup spot with Baldwin hi and Dominic Smith getting the DH nod.

Chris Sale is on the mound for the Braves, and even though he is one of the more seasoned veterans of the league the Dodgers’ players shockingly don’t have many at-bats against him. Teoscar Hernández leads the team with eighteen at-bats, but then it drops all the way down to nine at-bats, which old friend Freddie Freeman has against Sale. Freddie Freeman has had success in those nine at-bats with an OPS of 1.222, and Hernández has a .818, but no one else is better than .708.

Shohei Ohtani has an OPS of .708 in eight at-bats. Even with this solid Dodgers lineup, the edge appears to go to Chris Sale here.

First pitch is at 10:10 EDT

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