MLB Regular Season: Texas Rangers vs Atlanta Braves Series Preview
Two of MLB's Best Battle in Atlanta
After dropping a three-game series to the Mets last week, the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves have gotten into a groove with four-straight wins as they head into a big weekend series against the defending champion Texas Rangers.
Texas hasn’t been able to fire on all cylinders just yet but the Rangers just took three of four from the Detroit Tigers and have bolstered their rotation by calling up top pitching prospect Jack Leiter.
This Rangers vs Braves preview notes that the Braves are big favorites to win the series at -220 while the Rangers are +180.
While the Braves were expected to easily win the NL East for the seventh-consecutive year, they haven’t been able to run away with things just yet.
A season-ending elbow injury to Spencer Strider and ineffectiveness from the rest of the rotation has limited Atlanta, yet the Braves still boast an incredibly productive lineup that mashes from the top down.
Even without the injured Sean Murphy and Ozzie Albies, the Braves are leading baseball in average, on-base percentage and OPS and are second in runs scored. No wonder they’re at the top of today’s Major League baseball standings.
The Rangers also have a top-10 offense but injuries to Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Jung have held Texas back. Adolis GarcÃa, Marcus Semien and Jonah Heim have led the way in terms of run production while Nathan Eovaldi and Dane Dunning have anchored a makeshift rotation that has tons of big names on the MLB injured list.
Cody Bradford — an impressive young arm — just got hurt as well, prompting the call-up of Leiter who struggled in his MLB debut but has great stuff.
Rangers vs Braves 
Day/Time:
Location: Truist Park
Texas Could Have Pitching Edge
It’s a battle of lefties in Friday’s series opener as Chris Sale goes for the Braves against the Rangers‘ Andrew Heaney, followed by Charlie Morton taking on Eovaldi in Game 2 and Michael Lorenzen facing off with Darius Vines in Sunday’s finale.
Atlanta has the advantage with Sale-Heaney as Sale has mostly been pretty good for Atlanta while Heaney has struggled mightily thus far in 2024. He has a 6.75 ERA and has yet to finish even five innings in any of his three starts. The Atlanta Braves could feast on him.
But, no Rangers vs Braves preview would be complete without noting that Morton may finally be showing signs of his age. After a scoreless start in his season debut against the White Sox, he was lit up by the Mets and Marlins and hasn’t completed six innings.
Now, those could be two outlier starts against division opponents who know him well or they could be a sign that the 40-year-old veteran is slowing down. Eovaldi has carried over his effectiveness from the 2023 postseason — in which he went 5-0 — into the regular season.
While Lorenzen has only made one start as a Ranger so far, it was a good one (five innings with no runs) and he brings a little reliability and experience to the table than Vines who only has 25 MLB innings under his belt. If you’re making MLB picks, you would prefer to back Lorenzen than Vines.
Vines held the Houston Astros to one run in 4 2/3 innings in his first start of the year this week but he walked three batters and has had trouble with walks throughout his Minor League career. That’s something to watch against a patient Rangers’ lineup.
Bullpens Will Be Key
Another important part of this Rangers vs Braves preview is how each team’s bullpen will fare against the other’s impressive lineup. Atlanta has put a lot of resources, both in terms of trades and financial commitments, to its ‘pen and while it has been pretty good, the results haven’t been what Atlanta has expected.
The bullpen was especially taken to task by the Mets last week, showing that it can be vulnerable against aggressive offenses.
The Rangers’ bullpen is a weird one because its intended closer, José Leclerc, has been terrible but the rest of it has been solid. Free agent pickup (and former Brave) Kirby Yates has been spotless and has taken over the closer role while veterans David Robertson and José Ureña have provided good innings.
Rookie Jacob Latz has also been good but Texas just doesn’t have many trustworthy relievers right now.
Unfortunately for Texas, the Major League Baseball schedule for today has them playing the Braves of all MLB teams who are well-positioned to exploit the Rangers’ mediocre bullpen situation.
So, while the Rangers may have the edge in the rotation matchups for this series, the concerns over the bullpen (and gaps between the Braves’ offense and that of Texas) do make it understandable while Atlanta is so heavily favored.
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