Predicting the Opening Day starting lineup for the Atlanta Braves

Yep – we’re finally that close! A long offseason and spring training is about to give way to the excitement of “real baseball”. As soon as next week, the Atlanta Braves will play games that actually count!

What better way to prepare for that glorious occasion than to ponder about the starting nine that the Atlanta Braves will roll out onto the field at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia?

This promises to be the first of 19 pivotal regular-season matchups between the Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies.  Atlanta’s the defending division champion; Philadelphia, meanwhile, is the team that many feel is most primed to take the title away from the Bravos.

While the division itself won’t be decided in the first series, these first few games tend to set the tone for the early season. The best two months the Braves had in 2018 were April and May, and those months definitely created some cushion in the division race that certainly benefited them over the long haul, not to mention that it sent a loud-and-clear message to division rivals that Atlanta was a legitimate threat.

Here’s what we know (so far) about next Thursday’s season opener:

• Julio Teheran is making Braves history by tying Warren Spahn for the franchise record in starting six consecutive Opening Days.
• Aaron Nola has the ball for the Phillies. He was outstanding a season ago, and he was especially brutal against Atlanta (2.30 ERA in 5 starts, with a 0.89 WHIP)
• This is how things got started in 2018, too, except that the game was in Atlanta.  Neither team scored until the 6th inning of an eventually wild 8-5 contest.
• Brian Snitker is penciling in Ronald Acuna, Jr. into the cleanup spot, per 680 The Fan.

So how will the rest of the Atlanta lineup look on baseball’s version of Christmas Day? Here’s what seems likely…