Finger Injuries Sideline Two Pitchers As Atlanta Braves Approach Playoffs

At least for the Atlanta Braves, the outcome of the 2023 playoffs may rest on the capricious finger of fate.

Two of the team’s best starters missed two days in a row last week due to finger injuries.

Max Fried, a 29-year-old left-handed ace who had missed games three months prior due to a strain in his left forearm, was the first to fall. After pitching one inning at Washington the day after, veteran right-hander Charlie Morton was lifted from the game due to a sprained finger.

Fried should be prepared to take over at the top of the rotation when the Braves’ Division Series begins on October 7 because, like the Dodgers, the Braves will receive a bye. Additionally, he might get to start the best-of-five series twice.

Morton, though, won’t be prepared to leave the injured list in time.

If Atlanta advances that far, manager Brian Snitker thinks he would be available for the National League Championship Series, which is a best-of-seven series.

The Braves currently have home-field advantage for all postseason rounds with 100 wins as of Tuesday’s play. Their “magic numbers” are 3 to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS and 4 to defeat the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. The Braves have lost two key starters to injuries just before the postseason for the second consecutive season. Prior to last year’s NLDS against Philadelphia, Fried suffered a stomach virus that left him weak, and Spencer Strider was still recovering from an oblique injury.

The Phillies, the sixth-seeded team in the 2022 NL playoffs, defeated the Braves in four games and went on to win the World Series.

Fried is anticipated to return for this year’s NLDS, but his performance may be affected by the extended rest period between starts.

If the series extends to five games, he and major league leader Spencer Strider—who leads with 19 wins and 274 strikeouts—are expected to split the two starts. What is still unknown is who the third starter is.

It might be Kyle Wright, who won 21 games the previous season but missed the majority of this one due to shoulder inflammation, or the erratic young player Bryce Elder, who began the season so well that he was selected to the All-Star team.

Snitker suggested that the two might switch places, with Elder starting and Wright coming in before the other lineup switches places for the third time.

As for Wright, Snitker told writers, “If we use him out of the ‘pen, we can see him in different scenarios.” He can pitch up to 80, so if we need him to, he can do it. It’s more about maybe getting more out of him and not really taxing him as much.

Given that Morton is one of baseball’s top big-game pitchers, the Braves would suffer if he were to stay out of the game for an extended period of time. He won 14 games this season with a 3.64 earned run average as a curveball specialist.

As his contract expires and his 40th birthday draws near, Morton is thinking about retiring and hoping for one last big run as his career comes to an end. His salary is $20 million annually, but if the team performs well in the postseason, he will receive a nice bonus. Should Morton choose to return in 2024, the Braves could exercise a one-year club option on his contract.

He returned to Atlanta ahead of the team in the interim to confer with physicians and other medical professionals regarding the appropriate course of care for his injured finger. Although Atlanta had a better record going into the playoffs last year, it took an unexpected 2021 world championship—its second since moving from Milwaukee. They are also probably going to win more games than they did the previous year with six games left. once they had completed 101.

As the 2023 Atlanta rotation battled throughout the season to take the place of the injured Fried and Wright, Morton was a constant. Fried made just 14 starts but ended up with an 8-1 record and a trim 2.55 earned run average. He currently makes $13,500,000 and was runner-up for the National League Cy Young Award the previous season. However, after the 2024 season, he will be free to sign with any team.

The Braves play their first two postseason games at Atlanta’s Truist Park on October 7, but they can only use three starters—the third will pitch Game 3 away—due to a scheduled off-day in between. But both teams’ pitching strategies could be altered if there is a rainout in the first game.

The Phillies, who are projected to be the top wild-card team in the National League and the fourth-seeded team overall after the Braves, Dodgers, and Milwaukee Brewers, who won the NL Central, may face Atlanta once more.

The Phillies would have to beat an opponent to get there—the Cubs, Diamondbacks, Reds, and Marlins would all still be alive—in a best-of-three Wild Card Series.

questioned regarding the wounds “There’s never a good time,” Snitker stated on Sunday, citing what happened at the end of the previous year. To get through, all you have to do is overcome those obstacles, make the necessary adjustments, put things together, and probably do some things you wouldn’t normally do. Nothing at all or any hill that we haven’t yet scaled, without a doubt. Ronald Acuña, Jr., the Braves’ best player, was out of the 2021 World Series due to an ACL tear sustained in July. This time, Acuña is healthy and a serious candidate for the National League’s Most Valuable Player award.