The Atlanta Braves head into National League Division Series Game 4 against the Los Angeles Dodgers one loss from the end of their season.
Atlanta trails the series two games to one after a quiet offensive night at Truist Park, and Tyler Mahle is scheduled to start with the club’s postseason life on the line.
The lineup that will try to support him is the more immediate question, and Ronald Acuña Jr. sits at the center of it.
TJ French of Heavy.com argued Tuesday that the Braves should demote Acuña before first pitch, either by sitting him or by dropping him well down the order.
French noted that Acuña has been dealing with knee soreness and has underperformed throughout this postseason, not only in the series against Los Angeles. Over his last 20 playoff games, French reported, Acuña is 13-for-69 with a .188 average, no home runs, one RBI, a .232 slugging percentage, a .565 OPS and a 59 OPS+.
That stretch is long enough that the familiar image of Acuña as the engine at the top of the order no longer matches the at-bats.
French pointed to the Dodgers’ own adjustment in Game 3, when Dave Roberts moved Shohei Ohtani down to fifth, as the kind of in-series correction Walt Weiss should consider rather than another night of Acuña leading off or hitting second.
The case is not that Acuña has stopped being a useful player. A hitter with his track record can still change a game from the sixth or seventh spot, or as a pinch-hitter if the knee limits him in the field.
French wrote that it already appears unlikely Acuña will start in right field in Game 4, which leaves the batting-order decision as the cleaner lever.
Keeping a slumping, sore bat in the first two spots asks the rest of the order to produce around a black hole.
Moving him down would give Matt Olson, Austin Riley and the middle of the lineup earlier chances against Dodgers pitching and would treat the series the way October usually demands: as a sequence of adjustments, not a defense of regular-season roles.
Weiss does not have to bench the former MVP to accept the point. A lower slot still keeps Acuña’s speed and power in the game if the knee allows him to run. What the series has not rewarded is the assumption that name and past production will override the current at-bats.
Atlanta’s offense has been flat for much of the three games, and Mahle will need runs if the Braves are going to force a Game 5.
The batting order that drops this afternoon will show whether Weiss is willing to make the same kind of move Roberts already made, or whether Acuña stays near the top while the season narrows to nine innings.
