The Braves have had one day off in the past 29 and spent much of it traveling from San Francisco to Cincinnati. Then they played two extra-inning games among three against the Reds with the bullpen taking on a heavy workload.
And now the Braves are scheduled to face the Mets four times in 42 hours this weekend at SunTrust Park.
“We had that pseudo off-day (June 1) with everybody trying to catch up with the travel,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “There was a lot of baseball last weekend with a couple extra-inning games. And then all of this right now. There’s a lot going on.”
The Braves opened their series against the Mets on Friday night. It continues with a day-night doubleheader Saturday, with Game 1 at 1:05 p.m. followed by Game 2 at 6:05. The series concludes with a game Sunday afternoon.
There’s so much baseball to be played in a short period of time that Snitker, who will manage his first doubleheader in the big leagues, has to plan it all out.
“I’ve already kind of made some lineups for the whole weekend and really just try to rest everybody,” Snitker said before the game Friday. “Some of these guys just can’t play two games tomorrow. They want to, but I’m just not going to let them do it. I think it’s just too much on their bodies, physically.”
Snitker said he would consider matchups when deciding on the lineups for each game, though he added “that doesn’t work (out) all the time, either.” The Mets have announced that right-hander Robert Gsellman will start Game 1 on Saturday and left-hander Steven Matz will start Game 2.
The leaders in innings played for the Braves entering Friday were outfielders Ender Inciarte, Nick Markakis and Matt Kemp and infielders Dansby Swanson and Brandon Phillips.
“This is my first time doing a doubleheader at this level, but I think the same things apply as when you are going through a long stretch of games,” Swanson said. “You just cut down on some of the (pregame) work kind of stuff and make sure you are ready for the game and that you are loose to go out there and make your best effort.”
Adding to the busy weekend, the Braves will make a flurry of transactions.
Left-hander Sean Newcomb is set to be promoted from Triple-A Gwinnett on Saturday and start one of the games in his big league debut . Matt Wisler is expected to rejoin the Braves from Gwinnett as the extra roster addition for doubleheaders allowed under MLB rules.
Snitker said the team would not officially announce the transactions, including which pitcher will start which game of the doubleheaders, until after the game Friday.
“We’ve got a pretty good idea what’s going to happen,” he said. “It really doesn’t matter a lot. Whoever you want to pitch, you let them pitch. Sometimes you do it so, if it is a new guy, he is not waiting all day. You get him out there. That would be one consideration.”
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