Braves NLDS Roster: Drew Smyly and Terrance Gore Get Last Spots

The Atlanta Braves announced their roster for the NLDS series, which included a couple of surprises not many were expecting. 

There weren’t a ton of surprises on the Atlanta Braves NLDS roster, but certainly, some inclusions raise a lot of questions.

As much as we debate about the playoff roster in the several off-days leading up to the start of the NLDS, the last few spots never really matter — or at least you hope they don’t.

You hope you’re starters are playing the majority of the innings and that you’re never having to use those last three or four guys in the bullpen — unless you’re up by a lot.

Here is how the Braves NLDS roster shakes out

Starting Pitchers: Charlie Morton, Max Fried, Ian Anderson

Right-handed Relief Pitchers: Luke Jackson, Jacob Webb, Jesse Chavez, and Huascar Ynoa.

Left-handed Relief Pitchers: Tyler Matzek, Will Smith, A.J. Minter, Dylan Lee, and Drew Smyly.

Starters: Travis d’Arnaud, Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson, Austin Riley, Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall, and Jorge Soler.

Bench: Joc Pederson, Guillermo Heredia, William Contreras, Ehire Adrianza, Orlando Arcia, and Terrance Gore.

Braves NLDS Roster: Questionable Decisions

I was putting together my prediction for the playoff roster Thursday night before we started recording our podcast (which should come out Friday night or Saturday morning) and I only had two differences.

Spencer Strider should have been given that final spot in the bullpen over Smyly.

We know what we have in Smyly at this point. Maybe he gives you a solid inning or two if the Braves decide to go with a bullpen game in Game 4. But I honestly hope Smyly never sees the mound in this series.

Strider at least gives you a power arm, which we’ve seen first-hand how effective young flamethrowers can be in the postseason (see 2020 Dodgers, 2021 Rays).

Plus, how many lefties do you really need? Five lefties seems a bit ridiculous.

And the other disagreement I had was taking Gore over Cristian Pache.

This one is not as egregious to me as putting Smyly on the roster as both buys essentially do the same thing (good defense and speed).

I think Pache is much better defensively and is a much better hitter, but Gore certainly has him in the speed department.

That tells me Brian Snitker is comfortable having Heredia as his defensive replacement and Gore is just there to be a pinch-runner.

Again, I think Pache could have filled that role and given you a better defensive replacement off the bench.

And Pache hit really well down the stretch for Gwinnett.

Hopefully we’re not counting on Smyly or Gore to be a difference-maker in this series, but in a matchup this close, that’s exactly what it may come down to.