The Atlanta Braves are rolling. After the win yesterday against the Marlins, they now hold sole possession of the best run differential in MLB. They also have the most wins while reaching thirty-five wins the fastest they have in a season since their rebuild ended in 2018.
Today starts a new series with a Washington Nationals team that continues to surprise with their potent offense. No other team in MLB has scored more runs. As luck of timing would have it, the Braves have scored the second most runs, so it is going to be a matchup of the top two offenses in MLB. Fortunately for the Braves, the Nationals also have the second worst ERA in MLB.
The Braves will be facing off against Miles Mikolas who is in the midst of one of the worst stretches of his career. He currently holds a 6.91 ERA in 41.2 innings pitched. His 1.488 WHIP, 6.20 FIP, and 10.4 hits per nine innings are all the worst rates of his long career.
We don’t know yet if Ronald Acuña will play today, but interesting even though he is tied with Ozzie Albies with the most at-bats against Mikolas with twenty, he has struggled to a measly OPS of .400. Albies has not done much better with a .674, but he does at least have a HR against him.
Matt Olson has easily had the most success against Mikolas. He has fifteen at-bats against him and has two HRs and a 1.067 OPS against him. Michael Harris may continue his hot streak tonight too because he has a .455 batting average against Mikolas in his eleven at-bats against him.
The Braves have not officially announced yet who will get the start for them, but it can be assumed to be Bryce Elder. If it is Elder, then it looks like the Braves have a clear advantage in the pitching matchup. Elder continues his revenge tour with arguably the best season of his career if you factor in his expectancy stats. Elder has already accumulated 1.4 fWAR which is just 0.4 shy of his single season high in 2023. His expected ERA of 3.02 by far his best. His best xERA in a season prior to this was 4.29 way back in 2022.
This season Elder has the best strikeout and walk rates of his career, and his HR/FB rate of 6.6 percent is almost have of his career 12.6 percent. Bryce Elder has likely given many pitchers hope that it is possible with adjustments and hard work that you can turn your career around. He has gone from a fringe MLBer to a pitcher that would make any rotation in MLB.
Elder has already faced the Nationals this year where he pitched 6.2 innings and gave up three earned runs on three hits. He surrendered one HR in this game, which is only one of four that he has given up all season long. He had six strikeouts to only two walks. The Braves ended up winning this game 9-4.
Last game Elder lasted 8.0 innings when he faced the Red Sox. Today Elder could help the team with another late game run. The Braves have been leaning on Elder eating up innings. He leads the team in innings pitched.
Tonight could be a fun night with a lot of offense.
First pitch is at 7:15 EDT
Game Time: Friday, May 22nd, 7:15 pm EDT
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA.
Radio/Audio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
