Chris Sale will have to dominate again if the Atlanta Braves are to beat the Reds tonight

The good news for the Atlanta Braves tonight is that Chris Sale will start, and that usually means good things for the Braves this season. The bad news is that the Braves’ lineup against the Cincinnati Reds in the middle of this three-game series will be one of the thinnest we’ve seen from this team since the mini-rebuild days of 2014-17.

First off, congratulations to Austin Riley, who is expecting his second child in the coming days. This is a bigger deal than any baseball game and hopefully both his wife and newborn will deliver safely. However, this now means the Braves will lose another member of their lineup at a time when they really can’t afford to lose any more of their regulars.

Their primary right fielder is out for the season, their primary center fielder is still injured, their primary second baseman just sat out the rest of the season, their primary third baseman is becoming a father again and will be temporarily out, and the other regulars are either performing at an incredibly diminished rate (especially Matt Olson, Orlando Arcia, and Sean Murphy) or proving that you can’t win with only two players producing at even close to a high level (Marcell Ozuna and Travis d’Arnaud).

So yeah, I’m sure you’re all aware of this by now, but if you’re not, it’s time to get ready for what this lineup is going to look like tonight. It might be a bit of a blessing for Atlanta that they’re catching Cincinnati on a night where they’re going to play a bullpen game. Their opener will be Nick Martinez, who has had a scoreless appearance in 8 of his last 11 appearances. That includes an appearance on July 12th where he pitched three scoreless innings in a 7-4 win over the Marlins. Martinez has started a handful of games this season and he’s made five appearances this season where he’s gone five or more innings. Only one of those outings went well for the Reds, which was when he pitched five scoreless innings against the Dodgers on May 16th.

Meanwhile, Cincinnati’s bullpen enters this game with a collective 89 ERA, 97 FIP, and 111 xFIP. This bullpen is certainly not a slacker bunch, but they are vulnerable – the Braves struggled mightily in last night’s game against Cincinnati, but still found themselves with the tying run at bat against Alexis Díaz in the ninth inning of last night’s game. That being said, it really wouldn’t be shocking at all if Atlanta’s offense (especially in its current state) found itself in an extremely tough fight tonight.

So, once again, the onus has been on Chris Sale to help give the Braves a chance to win. Sale has been so good for Atlanta this season that he finished the first half of the season as one of the favorites to win the National League Cy Young Award. Since April 26, Sale has made 14 starts and has allowed two runs or fewer in 13 of those starts. There’s no other way to put it: Chris Sale has been essentially dominant on the mound this season and is back to the form he had in his prime as a member of either Sox team in the American League.

Again, this is also a bit of a double-edged sword since Sale has essentially had He’s going to have to be dominant to keep the Braves in some of these games. He’s probably going to have to have one of his best performances of the season tonight if Atlanta wants to have a chance of tying this series. Baseball is a very strange game and anything can happen, but I also think it’s totally fair to not expect exactly everything the home team can do tonight.