HOUSTON - The Braves are going with 15 pitchers and 13 position players for their 28-man National League Division Series roster. That’s a shift from their wild-card roster, when they carried 15 position players and 13 pitchers for a best-of-three series against the Reds.
The NLDS is a best-of-five against the Marlins in Houston, as part of MLB’s 2020 postseason bubble. Max Fried was set to face Sandy Alcantara in Game 1 on Tuesday.
For the roster, the Braves added Bryse Wilson and Huascar Ynoa to their pitching group. They aren’t carrying a third catcher, William Contreras, as they did in the previous series. The Braves also didn’t include utilityman Johan Camargo, but they kept Swiss Army knife Charlie Culberson. Culberson also could fill in as an emergency catcher if needed.
Rookie outfielder Cristian Pache, who was subbed in as a pinch-runner and scored the winning run in Game 1 of the wild-card series, again is the team’s fifth outfielder.
The Braves will start Fried, Ian Anderson and Kyle Wright in the first three games. They haven’t revealed their plans beyond that. Wilson and Ynoa would be the logical candidates to start a Game 4 or 5. Both can also provide length out of the bullpen.
Wright, Wilson and Ynoa would be making their postseason debuts. Sandoval, once an impact player in the postseason with San Francisco, will make his Braves playoff debut with his next at-bat. He was on the wild-card series roster but didn’t play.
The Braves' 2020 NLDS roster, as listed by the team:
Pitchers (15): RH Ian Anderson, LH Grant Dayton, LH Max Fried, RH Shane Greene, RH Chris Martin, LH Tyler Matzek, RH Mark Melancon, LH A.J. Minter, RH Darren O’Day, LH Will Smith, RH Josh Tomlin, RH Jacob Webb, RH Bryse Wilson, RH Kyle Wright, RH Huascar Ynoa
Catchers (2): Travis d’Arnaud, Tyler Flowers
Infielders (6): Ozzie Albies, Charlie Culberson, Freddie Freeman, Austin Riley, Pablo Sandoval, Dansby Swanson
Outfielders (5): Ronald Acuna, Adam Duvall, Nick Markakis, Marcell Ozuna, Cristian Pache
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