How the Atlanta Braves should handle the NLDS rotation
By Josh Mathews
With an excellent, powerful and consistent offense, pitching is likely what will take the Atlanta Braves far. What should the rotation look like for the National League Division Series?
The debate is raging hot. In one corner, you have the opinionated fans that think they can do better than Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker. Then, you have the folks that think that everyone should just not have an opinion and let Snit be the manager.
Both sides are a little off, because we love to talk about baseball and the debate gets us excited about the playoffs… which, by the way, start on October 3.
Who’s our Ace?
To be clear, I think the overall answer to this question is likely Mike Soroka, but half of a season of Dallas Keuchel looked awfully good. In the postseason, Keuchel should be our ‘ace’ and he should start game 1 of the NLDS.
Why? Of our starters, Keuchel is the only starter with significant postseason experience.
Over his 51.2 innings pitched in the postseason, he’s pitched to a 3.31 ERA, a 1.14 WHIP and in his first postseason start in 2015, he pitched six shutout innings in the wild card game against the New York Yankees, earning the win.
In 2017, when Keuchel earned a ring with the Houston Astros, he pitched to a 2-2 record in five starts, pitching well in the first two rounds, but struggled a bit in the World Series.
He lost the first game to Clayton Kershaw, and the Astros won game 5, as many may remember as the 13-12 thriller that will go down as one of the best World Series games of all time.
For the Atlanta Braves in 2019, Keuchel has registered quality starts in 12 of 18 appearances, and has only allowed more than three runs four times, and only pitched less than five innings once (August 8 vs. Miami, where he gave up 8 runs).
Since that start, he’s allowed two or fewer runs in seven of his last eight starts. His lone bad start over that stretch was to the Phillies.