Braves Have Opportunity to Impress on ESPN versus the Red Sox
The Atlanta Braves have been the talk of baseball this offseason.
From their dizzying series of trades to add leftfielder Jarred Kelenic from the Seattle Mariners to their daring choice to trade away young infielder Vaughn Grissom to the Boston Red Sox for oft-injured starter Chris Sale, Atlanta's garnered plenty of headlines and praise in baseball media this offseason.
And now, everyone gets to watch just what this Braves team might be able to do as they take on the Boston Red Sox from Ft. Myers in a nationally televised matchup.
Atlanta Braves lineup for Thursday, March 7th
Here's how the Braves are lining up today:
CF Michael Harris II
LF Jarred Kelenic
3B Austin Riley
1B Matt Olson
DH Marcell Ozuna
RF Jordan Luplow
C Chadwick Tromp
SS David Fletcher
2B Andrew Velazquez
Bryce Elder is the scheduled starter for Atlanta today, with Reynaldo López scheduled to follow him.
And those two pitchers are the favorites in the biggest remaining position battle on the roster - who is the #5 starter to open the season? We've consistently had López winning the battle in our roster projections, not for performance but for roster flexibility reasons. But while Elder may end up being the Opening Day starter for AAA Gwinnett for a second straight year, the expectation is that he'll spend plenty of time making starts in Atlanta, one way or the other.
Boston Red Sox lineup for Thursday, March 7th
Here's how Boston will line up for today's contest from Fenway South in Ft. Myers:
CF Jarren Duran
3B Rafael Devers
SS Trevor Story
1B Tristan Casas
LF Masataka Yoshida
DH Rob Refsnyder
RF Wilyer Abreu
2B Enmanuel Valdez
C Connor Wong
SP Nick Pivetta
UPDATE: Trevor Story has been scratched with neck stiffness, replaced by David Hamilton.
How to Watch the Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox on Thursday, March 7th
As we mentioned, today's game is an ESPN national broadcast. First pitch is 1:05 PM ET from Ft. Myers with Karl Ravech and David Cone on the call. There are several broadcast enhancements to look out for, including interviews with both managers from the dugout and Michael Harris II being mic'd up for an inning.