Though Braves manager Brian Snitker elected to give shortstop Dansby Swanson the night off against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday, he’s not about to start tinkering with his lineup to rest players with his club chasing a second consecutive playoff appearance.
The decision to rest Swanson was done solely because the 25-year-old was activated Monday after missing 30 games with a right foot contusion and nothing more, giving Adeiny Hechavarria the chance to make his 11th appearance for the Braves.
But even with the Braves enjoying a 5 1/2-game lead (four in the loss column) over the Washington Nationals before Wednesday’s action, Snitker is not about to start making plans for October just yet.
“Nobody’s told me we’re in the playoffs yet, so I’m not doing anything but trying to win that night because until we clinch the division, you’re not guaranteed anything,” he said. “Our lead is not insurmountable by any stretch, so every game is really important right now to win.”
After losing back-to-back games by identical 3-1 scores, the Braves skipper is more concerned about his club’s recent run of form at the plate, with Braves players putting up a combined .198 batting average and a .288 on-base percentage over the past 11 games. Despite that, the team is 8-3 over that stretch.
“We’re going through a team rut right now, and we have been. It’s been 10 days, two weeks, and you go through it,” he said. “We went through it before, and luckily we’ve been really efficient with what we do.”
While he’d like to see better at-bats from his team, the defending National League manager of the year is not about to worry about the situation at this point, saying that as long as his players keep grinding, they’ll weather the storm and come out of it.
In the meantime, Snitker acknowledged that he can’t help but look over his shoulder as teams such as the Nationals look to close in on the Braves, with the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies a little further back in the standings.
“Everybody is aware of what everybody is doing,” he said. “Everybody’s paying attention to that, you can’t help it right now.”
