Today's Three Things: Ozzie Albies Continues Historic Dominance Over Cubs in Series Opener
Atlanta's second baseman has a career OPS over 1.100 versus Chicago
The Atlanta Braves took down the Chicago Cubs 4-1 in Truist Park on Monday night to kick off the second series between the teams in the last 8 days.
Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
Is the first inning too early to call this one? Because we’re going to do it.
Starter Shota Imanaga got two early outs thanks to a Jurickson Profar groundout and a Matt Olson strikeout.
But then, The Mayor of Chicago, Ozzie Albies, came to the plate and made his presence known. Ozzie added his 11th career homer against the Cubs off of a Shota Imanaga 1-1 fastball, popping it 435 feet to center field at 108.1 mph off the bat.
It’s a continuation of his dominance versus Chicago: Of the 84 active Major Leaguers with 100 or more career plate appearances against the Cubs, Ozzie’s .395/.449/.707 line is the best in every single respect.
After Ha-Seong Kim singled to get on base, Drake Baldwin doubled him in and then scored on a Ronald Acuña Jr. single (which broke Ronald’s 0-for-25 streak, the longest active streak in MLB.) Atlanta never looked back in this one, adding an insurance run late on a Matt Olson homer in the 8th.
Today’s Player of the Game
Atlanta’s resident sinkerballer used his entire arsenal to confound Cubs hitters tonight, finishing with just one run allowed across 6.1 innings with five hits, one walk, and six strikeouts. It’s his fourth consecutive quality start and the sixth in the last eight outings, a stretch that’s seen his ERA lower by nearly a full run. Since the start of August, Elder’s six quality outings are tied for second in all of baseball.1
Elder picked up 15 whiffs on 44 swings tonight and finished with an above-average 36% CSW. I was impressed with how Elder and catcher Drake Baldwin shifted towards changeup usage late to help Elder finish the outing. While he has yet to embrace adding additional pitches, better utilization of his existing four-seam fastball and his changeup may be the adjustment needed to lessen the blowups like what we saw against the Chicago White Sox last month.
As I discussed on the podcast this morning, Elder seems to do better on regular rest (instead of extra) and this is just another data point in favor of that theory. (For what it’s worth, Tom Glavine had the same observation early in tonight’s broadcast).
What You’ll Be Talking About
Brian Snitker’s 800th career win as Braves manager.
Per Atlanta’s comms team, Snitker’s win establishes him as the second-most winning skipper since he took over at interim manager on May 17th, 2016. Only Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers has more wins in that same span, with 910.
Of the 86 managers in MLB history who have 800 or more wins, Snitker is just the 12th to get those 800 with just one team. In Braves’ franchise history, Snitker’s 800 wins trail only Hall of Famers Bobby Cox (2,149) & Frank Selee (1,004).
While there are criticisms to levy towards Snitker, including his bullpen decisions and slavish devotion to handedness platoons on offense, it’s impossible to come to any conclusion but he’s been the ultimate player’s manager. Snitker guided the franchise to the 2021 World Series with virtually perfect managerial decisions throughout the playoffs, including when to deploy Joc Pederson as a pinch-hitter (two PH homers versus Milwaukee in the NLDS) and Tyler Matzek as an emergency fireman for Luke Jackson in the NLCS versus the Dodgers.
While there’s been no official determination made on whether or not he’ll manage next season, Alex Anthopoulos confirmed on Monday afternoon that Snitker “will always be a part of the Braves organization.”
Looking for more discussion about this game?
Here’s tonight’s Postcast, with me and Locked On Braves host Jake Mastroianni, as we went live to break down the win.
What’s Next for the Braves?
The Braves look to win the series early against Drake Baldwin’s primary competition for Rookie of the Year. Cade Horton (9-4, 2.78) takes the mound for the Cubs opposite the well-rested (and clean-shaven) Spencer Strider (5-12, 4.97) at 7:15 PM ET.
Coincidentally, tonight’s opposing starter Shota Imanaga recorded his seventh quality start tonight, which leads the league for that same stretch.
"Blazing" Bryce Elder had 17 called strikes and 15 swinging strikes.
The Braves would be damn fools to sign a Typel A free agent. It would cost a 2nd rounder, 5th rounder, and $1 million international pool money.
That 2nd round pick will be early, somewhere around # 40 overall.
Kinley is quickly becoming a reliable set-up guy (really good news if Jimenez struggles next year) and Iglesias's 14 straight saves is impressive. He seems to be doing it primarily with well located fast balls and far fewer change ups - opposite of what I'd expect for an older pitcher.