The Braves' hitters will face a trio of young right-handed starting pitchers in the first three games of the Division Series.
The Miami Marlins plan to start 25-year-old Sandy Alcantara in Game 1 Tuesday afternoon, 24-year-old Pablo Lopez in Game 2 and 22-year-old rookie Sixto Sanchez in Game 3.
“You can tell the last few years (the Marlins') priority has been pitching, like ours was years ago,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said Monday. “It was how we built this whole thing on pitching and developing your own, and they have done a really good job of that.”
Alcantara was 3-2 with a 3.00 ERA in seven starts during the regular season and limited the Chicago Cubs to one run in 6 2/3 innings in the first game of a wild-card playoff series last week. He hasn’t faced the Braves previously this season, but had a 2.41 ERA in three starts (18-2/3 innings) against them last year.
Lopez was 6-4 with a 3.61 ERA in 11 starts this season, including mixed results in three starts against the Braves. He held them to two runs in six innings Aug. 14 and to no runs in five innings Sept. 24. But on Sept. 9, the Braves scored seven runs against him in 1-2/3 innings.
Sanchez was 3-2 with a 3.46 ERA in seven starts this season. He started twice against the Braves, holding them scoreless across six innings Sept. 8 and allowing four runs in three innings Sept. 23. He pitched five scoreless innings against the Cubs in Game 2 of the Marlins' wild-card series sweep.
The Marlins' starting pitchers for the first three games of the NLDS were all acquired as prospects as part of the return in trades that dealt away veteran players. Alcantara came from St. Louis in the December 2017 trade that sent Marcell Ozuna to the Cardinals, Lopez from Seattle in the July 2017 trade of David Phelps and Sanchez from Philadelphia in the February 2019 trade of J.T. Realmuto.
“You could see that coming,” Snitker said of the Marlins' talented collection of young starting pitchers. “We saw that last year. They did a good job of surrounding that (with other players).”
As expected, the Braves' starting pitching plans beyond Game 1 starter Max Fried call for rookie right-handers Ian Anderson and Kyle Wright to start Games 2 and 3, respectively.
Neither team has divulged pitching plans beyond Game 3 in the best-of-five series.
“I’m not even venturing what we’ll do then,” Snitker said.
Notes from Monday:
⋅ The 2021 season is the last on Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman’s eight-year, $135 million contract. “They’ve treated me amazing," Freeman said of the Braves. "All I can do is just try and get a World Series here. I think Alex (Anthopoulos, Braves general manager) and everyone knows -- and the fans know -- that this is where I would love to stay. ... I know I only have one year left (on the contract), and we’ll see how it goes. But this team is built to win for a long time, and I know that. It’s going to be a good ride, and hopefully I can be a part of it.”
⋅ Braves third baseman Austin Riley said a sore right quadriceps, which caused him to miss some games in the final week of the regular season, isn’t a concern. “It’s one of those things where it’s very tolerable,” Riley said. “I’m good to go. I was able to test it on a double from Ronnie (Acuna) when I was on first and scored (in Game 2 of last week’s wild-card series).”
⋅ The Braves expect to depend heavily on their bullpen in the NLDS, which could entail five games in five days if it goes the distance. “Our bullpen has been the reason that we’re here, obviously,” Snitker said, “because we had issues with our starting pitching, the lack thereof. These guys have been pitching out of the bullpen really, really well for 62 games. I have a lot of confidence in every one of those guys.”
