The Atlanta Braves are already locked into the No. 3 overall seed in the National League entering Wednesday night.
Yet, they have five regular-season games remaining and are coming off a 4-0 loss against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday, which Ronald Acuna Jr. exited after fouling a ball off his shin.
Fortunately, the injury scare seemed to be just that, as X-rays all came back negative for a potential fracture.
Braves Announce Acuna Jr. Decision
Nonetheless, despite the injury not being deemed overly serious at this point, Braves manager Walt Weiss has still elected to keep Acuna Jr. out of the starting lineup for Game 2 of the series.
Mauricio Dubon will step into left field and hit second in the batting order behind Drake Baldwin, who will be behind the plate for left-handed star Chris Sale on Wednesday. This will more than likely be Sale’s final start of the regular season.
Here’s the full Braves lineup:
Via Underdog MLB: “Braves 9/23 D. Baldwin C M. Dubón LF M. Olson 1B O. Albies 2B M. Harris II CF A. Riley 3B S. Murphy DH B. Hicklen RF H. Kim SS C. Sale SP.”
Braves 9/23
D. Baldwin C
M. Dubón LF
M. Olson 1B
O. Albies 2B
M. Harris II CF
A. Riley 3B
S. Murphy DH
B. Hicklen RF
H. Kim SSC. Sale SP
— Underdog MLB (@UnderdogMLB) September 23, 2026
Looking at Acuna Jr.’s 2026 Season
Whether or not this will be the last time we see Acuna Jr. in the regular season is unknown as Weiss may choose to be pretty cautious with the star outfielder considering his injury history.
However, despite sometime out this year, Acuna Jr. had a solid 2026 campaign.
Across 104 games this season, Acuna Jr. is hitting .259 with 60 runs, 102 hits, 20 home runs, and 55 RBIs, while slugging .462 with a .814 OPS.
Atlanta is set to host a best of three series in the Wild Card round against whoever ends up being the No. 6 seed next week in the first round.
Atlanta Braves Announce Ronald Acuna Jr. Decision After Injury Scare