It will be a busy two days for the Atlanta Braves in Cleveland for the All-Star Festivities.
The Atlanta Braves enter the All-Star Break with a six-game lead in the National League East and the fifth best record in baseball.
They also will be heavily represented in Cleveland, first for the Home Run Derby Monday night, then for the All-Star Game Tuesday night.
Home Run Derby
Ronald Acuna Jr. was selected for the Home Run Derby and is the sixth seed in the bracket. He will take on Josh Bell from the Pirates in the first round.
Acuna has hit 21 home runs on the season, which is the second most on the Atlanta Braves, while Bell has 27, which is by far the most on Pittsburgh’s team.
The winner of the Acuna/Bell matchup will take on the winner of Pete Alonso of the Mets (30 HR) vs. the hometown team’s Carlos Santana (19 HR).
On the other side of the bracket is Matt Chapman of the A’s (21 HR), who replaced the injured Christian Yelich vs. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Blue Jays (8 HR in 225 ABs) and Alex Bregman of the Astros (23 HR) vs. Joc Pederson of the Dodgers (20 HR).
It would be great to see Acuna make some noise in the event, but his first-round matchup is really tough.
Prediction: Pete Alonso of the Mets is the winner.
The Home Run Derby can be seen at 8 p.m. EST on ESPN and the winner of the event takes home $1 million dollars.
All-Star Game
Freddie Freeman and Acuna will both be starting for the National League, while Brian Snitker will be on the coaching staff and Mike Soroka will likely make an appearance out of the bullpen.
This is Freeman’s fourth All-Star Game appearance and he is 1-for-3 all-time, while this will be Acuna and Soroka’s first time in the Midsummer Classic.
Typically starters go four or five innings, so expect to see Freeman and Acuna get two at-bats, maybe three.
First glance, I would guess Acuna bats leadoff and Freeman third or fourth.
Soroka pitched on Thursday, so he should definitely get into the game and pitch an inning.
Predicting the All-Star Game is next to impossible, but I’ll take the NL anyway, winning 5-3. The MVP will be Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers.
Acuna and Freeman both get hits and Soroka pitches a scoreless inning.
The All-Star Game will be Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. EST at Progressive Field in Cleveland and can be seen on FOX.