The lineups for tonight’s series opener between the Atlanta Braves and the Boston Red Sox are out. The Braves have gone with Eli White at the top of the order once again and the common thread between his first leadoff appearance and tonight’s lineup placement is pretty clear.
Let’s take a look at the rest of Atlanta’s lineup:
I’m guessing that the Braves have decided to do a sort of platoon when it comes to the leadoff spot. If the opposing pitcher is a right-hander then Alex Verdugo will play and likely lead off. If the Braves have to deal with a left-hander then it’ll be Eli White hitting at the top of the order and Verdugo will start the game on the bench. It makes a bit of sense — while Eli White is only a .208/.269/.292 hitter with 45 wRC+ against left-handers, Verdugo is hitting .056/.105/.056 with a -56 wRC+ against lefties, so yeah. Stuart Fairchild is also getting another start as well, which means that this is identical to the lineup that they had back on Wednesday against lefty hurler Mitchell Parker.
Meanwhile, here’s Boston’s lineup:
So their new City Connect uniforms are pretty sweet — what do y’all think of that? That’s all to talk about for the most part since the Red Sox are going with an identical lineup to the one that they rolled out for their series finale against the Tigers earlier this week.
Tonight’s game is scheduled to start at 7:10 p.m. ET. Come join us!