How the Atlanta Braves Should Set Up the Rotation Down the Stretch
Now that the Atlanta Braves have locked up the NL East and are preparing for hopefully another deep postseason run, here is how Brian Snitker should line up the starting rotation.
The first thing to establish is the order of the starting rotation in the postseason, and that seems pretty simple at this point.
As dominant as Spencer Strider can be, Max Fried still feels like the safest bet in the rotation and the guy who gives you the most consistency, so he should be the game-one starter.
Then you follow with Strider, Charlie Morton, and Bryce Elder.
Kyle Wright is too much of a wild card right now, and unless he really shows in his next couple of starts that he's back and has the control that you can trust, I don't see him starting a game in the postseason.
I do think he's on the postseason roster and will be valuable to back up a guy that might not have it that night.
The question then becomes, how do you lineup these guys in the last series of the year.
There is a five-day gap between the last regular season game and when the NLDS starts, so no matter what, all of these guys will be going into the postseason with plenty of days of extra rest.
You could stay on schedule and Fried would pitch on the 18th against the Phillies, the 23rd against the Nationals, and the 29th against the Nationals again.
It might be smart to avoid having Fried and Strider pitch against the Phillies again next week as that very well could be who they face in the NLDS.
One problem is that unless there is an injury, the Braves can't bring up Dylan Dodd, Darius Vines, or Allan Winans until the 26th and 27th (for Winans).
And AJ Smith-Shawver can't come up until the 29th, so all of the maneuvering by the Braves has kind of backed them into a corner for what they can do down the stretch.
In the Phillies series, they could use Kyle Wright, Jackson Stephens, and Bryce Elder.
Then you would have Fried, Strider, and Morton on extra rest for the Nationals series. That would also line up Fried to make two more starts on five days rest and pitch the last game of the regular season.
Of course, that would also set him up to make a start against the Cubs on the 26th -- a team he also could very well see in the NLDS.
But that's probably the best strategy to have Fried pitch the final game of the season and avoid him facing the Phillies potentially three times in four weeks.
This is how the Braves could potentially play things out:
Sept. 15 vs. MIA - Bryce Elder
Sept. 16 vs. MIA - Jared Shuster
Sept . 17 vs. MIA - Charlie Morton
Sept. 18 vs. PHI - Kyle Wright
Sept. 19 vs. PHI - Jackson Stephens opens a bullpen game
Sept. 20 vs. PHI - Bryce Elder
Sept. 21 vs. WSH - Max Fried
Sept. 22 vs. WSH - Spencer Strider
Sept. 23 vs. WSH - Charlie Morton
Sept. 24 vs. WSH - Kyle Wright
Sept. 26 vs. CHC - Max Fried
Sept. 27 vs. CHC - Bryce Elder
Sept. 28 vs. CHC - Spencer Strider
Sept. 29 vs. WSH - Charlie Morton
Sept. 30 vs. WSH - Kyle Wright
Oct. 1 vs. WSH - Max Fried
Any way you want to draw it up, the big three (Fried, Strider, and Morton) likely get three starts the rest of the way with at least one of them being an abbreviated start (75-80 pitches).
There is nothing you can do about the extra rest between the end of the regular season and the postseason - Strider, Morton, and Elder in particular will just have to find ways to try and stay sharp during that stretch while also staying healthy.
We'll see what Snitker and the Braves front office comes up with, but this avoids their main guys seeing the Phillies again and sets them up to pitch those last games of the season with Fried ending things off so that's he on regular rest for game one of the NLDS.
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