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By Alan Cole
Staff Correspondent

In a sport where everything is usually defined by surviving the marathon, suddenly it’s all about the sprint.

Major League Baseball’s usual 162-game schedule has been trimmed down to 60 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The long-awaited Opening Day will come on Thursday night when the Washington Nationals begin their World Series defense at home against the New York Yankees at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

The Atlanta Braves will open their season on Friday at 4 p.m. at an empty Citi Field against the New York Mets. Atlanta’s breakout starting pitcher from last season Mike Soroka will have the Opening Day start, becoming the youngest Opening Day starting pitcher in Braves history at 22 years old. Two-time reigning National League Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom had to be lifted from an intrasquad game with a back injury last week, but his MRI came back without showing any major damage and he is still expected to be Soroka’s mound opponent on Opening Day.

The Braves will square off against the Mets 10 times in the 60-game season. As part of MLB’s efforts to limit travel during the coronavirus pandemic, 40 of the 60 games for each team will come against divisional opponents. Teams will play each other team in their division 10 times, and the remaining 20 games will consist of four interleague contests against each of the five teams in the opposite league’s same geographic division.

For the Braves this means 20 games against the American League East, and showdowns with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox lurk on the schedule. Atlanta will open the home portion of its schedule at the newly renamed Truist Park with one of these interleague games, as the Tampa Bay Rays will be the visitors in Atlanta’s home opener at 7:10 p.m. on July 29.

The biggest change on Atlanta’s roster is the loss of Josh Donaldson. The former MVP hit 37 home runs and drove in 94 runs in 2019, but the 34-year-old slugger signed a four-year, $92 million deal with the Minnesota Twins in the offseason. To help offset the loss of Donaldson, Atlanta brought in former Miami Marlin and St. Louis Cardinal Marcell Ozuna on a one-year deal. Ozuna hit 29 home runs for the Cardinals last season, and had a scorching .429 batting average against the Braves in the 2019 NLDS.

The Braves also signed Travis D’arnaud to a two-year, $16 million deal to be the team’s starting catcher after Brian McCann’s retirement, with Tyler Flowers still serving as the backup catcher. Pitching mainstay Julio Teheran has made the last six Opening Day starts for the Braves, but he signed with the Los Angeles Angels. General manager Alex Anthopolous did make a pair of offseason signings to help improve the pitching rotation in Teheran’s absence, but those plans have already taken major hits.

Former Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez signed with the Braves, but he opted out of the season due to concerns about COVID-19. And left-handed starting pitcher Cole Hamels was also signed to fill a spot in the rotation, but an injury on his left shoulder means he will miss the start of the season with no timetable set for his return. Atlanta’s starting right fielder Nick Markakis also opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19. The club had an agreement in place with free agent right fielder Yasiel Puig, but Puig tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday and the deal is now off.

Four members of the club tested positive for the virus in July. The most notable name was four-time All-Star and face of the franchise Freddie Freeman, but the first baseman was cleared to return and took batting practice at Truist Park on Friday. Closer Will Smith was signed by the Braves in November after saving 34 games for the San Francisco Giants a year ago, but he is still on the injured list after a positive COVID-19 test. Freeman and Smith were joined by relief pitcher Touki Toussaint and minor league free agent signing Pete Kozma as the four Braves who tested positive. Toussaint has been cleared to return to action, but no word has been issued on Kozma since his initial positive test on July 4.

Before the team heads up to New York for the start of the 60-game dash to October, it was set to play two exhibition games against the Miami Marlins at Truist Park.

Dale Zanine
Dale Zanine