It’s been a minute since a Braves vs. Marlins series meant much. It can’t be considered a rivalry in my mind because of the Braves’ dominance. Atlanta has won 6-of-7 this year and are 19-7 the last two seasons.
Under normal circumstances, winning percentages would be the lead for tonight’s series opener. The Marlins and the Braves have each one five in a row. But when Michael Soroka was announced as tonight’s starter, the circumstances became anything but normal! I’d give anything to be on hand tonight to hear the ovation. I hope someone warns the umpires to avoid the pitch-clock violation!
The Canadian aptly dubbed Maple Maddux, will pitch in Atlanta for the first time tonight in nearly three years. Soroka carved up lineups in 2019 and 2020 before tearing his Achilles heel for the first time. He was recalled earlier this season and made two starts, neither of which was very effective. Struggling to locate resulted in a return to Gwinnett, where all he’s done is throw 19 innings with an ERA below 1.50 since.
The Marlins are 19-7 in the month of June. Somehow, they’ve still managed to fall two games further behind the Braves. Atlanta, who is 6-1 against the Feesh this season, is 20-4 this month. The Braves look to tie the franchise record for wins in June tonight.
Braves vs. Marlins Pitching matchups
• Friday, 7:20 ET, Bryan Hoeing (1-2, 2.31, 1.20 WHIP) vs. Soroka (0-1, 8.38, 1.86 WHIP) This will be an emotional start for the Braves and an interesting challenge for Miami,
• Saturday, 4:10 ET – Eury Perez (5-1, 1.34, .98 WHIP) vs. Charlie Morton (7-6, 3.81, 1.48 WHIP). Morton is nearly twice as old as Perez but will need to be doubly crafty as the 20 year-old. Perez is making his 10th appearance of the season.
• Sunday, 1:35 ET – Sandy Alcantara (3-6, 4.82, 1.25 WHIP) vs. Spencer Strider (9-2, 3.73, 1.11 WHIP) Alcantara is the reigning Cy Young Award winner and Strider is the 2023 hopeful. Strider looks to continue to right the ship, following two good starts against a Marlins offense that isn’t great.
The Braves lead the NL in virtually every statistical category when they are up to bat. Atlanta averages 5.5 runs per game and has a +117 run differential. The Marlins, on the other hand, average 4.7 runs and are 17th in MLB in run differential at 0.
https://www.teamrankings.com/mlb/stat/run-differential
I’m looking for Michael Harris II and Ronald Acuna Jr. to continue wreaking havoc in this series. Who you got? Braves vs. Marlins…Let’s go!
If you haven’t been around, there have been quite a few pieces added in the past few days. Click on any link below to catch up!
This series is a definite challenge as the Marlins have improved greatly from earlier in the year. They are now tied for second best record in the NL and have improved their run differential to even. They live off their pitching (as can be seen in the ERAs), but can occasionally “Soler” the ball. It makes me kinda wish the Braves had signed Soler even if just to keep him away from the Fish. I’m betting that the majority of the Fish offense is Arraez/Soler so keeping them in check will go a long way.
You’re right, this is a good outfit. I’m not discounting their run, but the toughest part of their schedule is ahead of them – beginning with this series. I believe there is pressure on them to win these games because catching the Braves will be nearly impossible if they were to get swept!
May Michael’s performance tonight point towards many continued years of success in the Show.
Amen,
Amen and amen!
Wishing Soroka all the best tonight! Hopefully, he will be able to find the command that evaded him in his first couple of outings.
To answer your question, Christian, I’m looking for Olson to continue his righty-mashing ways against Hoeing, Perez, and Alcantara in this series. Among all LHH who have had a minimum of 200 PA against RHP, he ranks fourth in wRC+ with a 163 mark.
Let’s go, I’m good with Olson mashing!
Did y’all realize that this Braves team has already set the franchise record for most wins in the first half? 53 wins is already the most any Braves team has won in the first half of the season–and they’ve got one more game before they’ve played 81. If they win tonight they finish the first half with a .667 winning percentage, which they have never done. The team has also never won 108 games in a season (.667).
The franchise has several seasons in which they won two thirds of their games in the second half. The 106 win team in 1998 won 52 in the first half, and then 54 more in the second. In my favorite pennant races–1991, 1993, and 2002–the Braves started slow and then won at at a .667 clip or better in the second half to overcome big deficits and win the division. In 1992 and 2004, the Braves also won at a .667 clip in the second half. The best second half in MLB history was the 1914 Miracle Braves,
Of course, just because they win 53 or 54 games in the first half doesn’t mean they will win 106 or 108 on the season. But they are at least in a position to contend for the best season record in franchise history.
I came up with the above numbers after a quick persual of BRef season pages. I’m counting on JonathanF to tell me if I’m wrong on any of this this.
EDIT–the 91 Braves won 53, not 54, in the second half. It was still my favorite second half of a season ever.
Mine too, tfloyd
Soroka’s stuff already appears better than his first stint.
wow. just wow.
Did someone say something about Olson mashing?
What is it with Berti? Seems like he always hits us.
Soroka ain’t gonna save this rotation. Yuck. Leaving it up.
Let’s not make it consecutive Fridays that we squander a 5-0 first-inning lead to some NL upstart team.
I hate to say it but I don’t see Soroka ever being more than a complementary piece. Hangs way too many pitches to be effective long term. Need to get the pen up now before we start chasing
So it appears to have been an episode and Soroka looked good otherwise than that against a hot team as welll
Geez–the DOOMED chorus with regard to Soroka was pretty quick to start up.
Let’s see how he responds. Maybe it was just a one inning episode like Huddy used to have. Three straight starts when he starts leaving the ball up is concerning though
Yeah, the idea that Soroka will never get any sharper than he is today is something I’d hold off on for a little while.
Yes, he did leave a couple of changeups and sliders up in the zone. He won’t be effective if he keeps doing that. But that was a big fourth inning for Michael. I think he will continue to improve.
I dont mind what I’ve seen what soroka has done, had a Hudson/Morton ish episode, but I see potential. And health, more importantly.
Olson cares not for the cycle, it seems.
And yay at Riley getting going again.
Olson is a cycle candidate. HR & 3B through 3 innings.
Unbelievable, really. And yeah, Roger, couple of us mentioned Olson mashing 😂😂😂
Could we not try that gambit with two outs, Ronald?
Snitker had a look on his face like he was thinking the same.
I love Ronald, but he isn’t much for adhering to the cardinal rules of baseball.
Olson is some kind of locked in.
Soroka ended up with a decent outing other than that 1 inning. 7/0 K/BB ratio
I feel like 6 innings of three run ball from Maple Maddux is a good, quality start. He hung a couple of pitches in the third, but that’s a good outing.
And man, this offense!
“Make it stop…” – Marlins announcer after the Murphy home run.
To paraphrase someone else about something else, if the Good Lord made anything better than hanging 16 runs on the Marlins, He kept it for himself.
The Marlins must feel like they are playing a bunch of superheroes when they play the Braves the last few years. That 29 run game, the 16 run game tonight, we swept them out of the playoffs, and the Braves almost always win in the regular season matchups.
Hey crew! What a lively game thread. Can anyone reach out to the few that peace’s out early on when everyone was trying to navigate the blog to come back? We will never get back to the time of Mac’s reign, but that’s because very few teams had a blog and baseball fans, not just Braves fans ventured to these parts. We are rolling again and it makes me smile!
I still read. Post less.
Really enjoyed this win. The Anthopoulos-era Braves are really the best thing since the Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz teams.
Great job with the blog, bro
This is unreal.
Recapped