Braves set their rotation for series against NL West-leading Dodgers

SEATTLE — The Braves announced Wednesday the starting pitchers for their three-game series against the Dodgers starting Friday in Los Angeles.

Chris Sale will get the ball for the opener against the NL East-leading Dodgers (23-14) on Friday, followed by Spencer Strider on Saturday and Bryce Elder on Sunday.

That means Grant Holmes will be skipped this weekend and rookie JR Ritchie’s next start will be pushed back. The Braves, at 26-12 and with an 8 1/2-game lead in the NL East, are off Monday before playing 13 straight days. That begins with a six-game homestand that includes the Cubs starting Tuesday and the Red Sox beginning next Friday.

In essence, the Braves are using a six-man rotation with Holmes and Martín Pérez being swing men available to start or used for long relief. It’s strategic considering Holmes had elbow trouble last season, Strider has made just one start after an oblique injury in spring training, Sale is 37 and Reynaldo López (who has already been moved to the bullpen after being in the rotation to start the year) missed the 2025 season with a shoulder injury.

“That’s why we’ve been going series to series,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “Just because we have the extra starter and we have been going back and forth. (Pérez’s) done it, back and forth between the pen and starting, and he’s done a heckuva job doing it.”

For a team that had so many starting pitching question marks last season because of injuries and had a rotation in flux just three months ago during spring training, there is suddenly a surplus of starting pitching. And there can never truly be too much starting pitching.

López, after making five starts earlier this season, has been in the bullpen since the end of April. Didier Fuentes, a 20-year-old righty expected to be part of the organization’s future starting pitcher plans, is also pitching in relief. Ritchie has made three quality starts and looks to be in it for the long haul.

None of the roster’s eight starters — count ‘em: Sale, Strider, Elder, Holmes, Ritchie, Fuentes, López and Pérez — have given Atlanta brass any reason to throw them to the curb. Especially Pérez, who has proved invaluable to the team’s hot start 38 games into 2026.

Pérez signed a minor league deal with the club in February, was added to the major league roster March 30, was designated for assignment April 12, elected free agency April 14 and then re-signed with the organization days later.

Since, he has made three starts and allowed just two earned runs. Behind the scenes the 35-year-old Venezuelan has been ready if called upon no matter what the Braves need him to do.

“Maybe it’s weird for you guys because of what I’m doing, but that’s what they need,” Pérez said Wednesday.

As for this weekend against the Dodgers, the Braves are going with their aces.