CHICAGO – Their scheduled game Saturday against the Cubs at Wrigley Field was rained out, and to be honest that probably wasn’t a bad thing for the Braves, owners of baseball’s worst record (5-18).
The postponement allowed the Braves to move back starting pitcher Julio Teheran to Sunday’s series finale — the Cubs are doing the same with John Lackey — and also allows the Braves to delay calling up a starter from Triple-A to replace ineffective Bud Norris in the rotation for Monday’s series opener against the Mets.
Matt Wisler, who had been scheduled to start Sunday, will instead make his next start Monday.
Saturday’s game won’t be made up as part of a doubleheader Sunday, but instead is tentatively set for July 7 at Wrigley Field. July 7 was a scheduled off day for both teams, and the Braves would’ve been in Chicago anyway before facing the White Sox in a July 8-10 weekend series leading into the All-Star break.
Because it would necessitate both teams playing about three weeks straight without a day off, the July 7 makeup date must be approved before becoming official.
“It’d be 20 straight (games) for us and 21 straight for them,” Gonzalez said. “I’m OK with it because we come out of Philly (April 4-6) and we’re off here in Chicago and we’re going to play the White Sox that weekend…. I guess they’ve got to clear it through MLB or the union or whatever. I have no problem with it. We’re going to be here anyway, so it works out fine for us.”
