The Atlanta Braves are about to get a big series underway against the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.
It’s the kind of clash at the top of the NL East Division that will require all the stars, like Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies, to be at the top of their games.
The Braves certainly are counting on Albies to be good on Friday night. They’ve elevated him higher in the batting order.
After Albies spent time earlier this week in the No. 6 spot in the order, he’ll bat third for the Braves against the Phillies.
Ozzie Albies in Braves Order
Albies is the 3-hitter for the Braves as they go against Phillies ace Cristopher Sanchez.
The full Atlanta lineup looks like this:
- Ronald Acuna Jr. RF
- Drake Baldwin DH
- Ozzie Albies 2B
- Matt Olson 1B
- Lane Thomas LF
- Mauricio Dubon CF
- Sean Murphy C
- Austin Riley 3B
- Ha-Seong Kim SS
The Braves are sending ace Chris Sale to the hill to oppose Sanchez.
Why Is Ozzie Batting 3rd?
The main reason Albies is this high in the order is the matchup against the southpaw Sanchez.
This season, Albies’ numbers are much better against left-handed pitchers as opposed to right-handed pitchers.
He’s batting .288 (vs. .231) against lefties, with a .772 OPS against lefties being much better than his .693 OPS against righties.
Albies has eight of his 21 homers against lefties this season.
And if it wasn’t clear, Albies is a switch-hitter. This isn’t necessarily a platoon advantage situation as much as simply finding the side of the plate he currently feels most comfortable on.
The Braves mixed it up aside from just Albies. Olson pretty much always hits in the top-three spots in the order, but against the tough same-sided Sanchez, the slugging lefty Olson moved down to the fourth spot.
NL East Standings
The Braves enter Friday night with an 83-57 record. That puts them in first place in the NL East Division.
The Phillies begin the night at 79-61. They’re 4.0-games behind the Braves.
That margin means that even if Philadelphia were to pull off a weekend sweep, they’d still be a game behind Atlanta heading into next week.
Both teams have played 140 games entering Friday’s clash, meaning they have 22 left. That’s a lot of time for things to flip, but this series will go a long way.
In the reverse scenario mentioned above — if the Braves sweep — Atlanta could take a stranglehold on the top of the division.
The Marlins are also above .500, at 71-70, but they’re 12.5 games back of the Braves and their only playoff hope is a Wild Card spot.
The Nationals have been respectable but now sit 67-75, while the Mets bring up the basement in the NL East with a 63-77 record.
Braves Make Ozzie Albies Change Before Phillies Game