Fox Sports Southeast’s Chip Caray: Marlins present different challenge for Braves

With no fans in the stands and an expanded playoff format in this wacky 2020 postseason, the last piece of normalcy Atlanta had was playing at Truist Park. That is, until Sunday, when the Braves headed for Houston to face the division rival Miami Marlins in a five-game, neutral-site series in their first NLDS appearance since 2001.

Atlanta, which swept the Cincinnati Reds in the wild-card round with two shutouts, will look to take advantage of an unseasoned Miami franchise that hasn’t trodden on postseason soil since 2003.

Though the Marlins may lack experience in October, FOX Sports Southeast broadcaster Chip Caray believes the Braves could have a much more difficult time slowing the Miami attack down than they did with Cincinnati’s bats.

“I would say offensively, the Marlins have the ability to manufacture runs. They put the ball in play, steal lots of bases, don’t have a lot of power and have to manufacture runs,” Caray said. “The Reds relied almost exclusively on the home run and as we saw in that two game series that when it came time to get that big hit or hit that sac fly or put the ball in play, they just couldn’t do it. I think the Marlins do a much better job of that — at least, they’ve shown that against the Braves head to head.”

The Marlins, who turned a 105-loss team into a sixth seed playoff bid in just one year, are playing motivated, highly emotional baseball. Caray believes controlling Miami’s emotions from the start of the series will be key in keeping the fish in check.

“Don’t give the Marlins any hope… they play on adrenaline and play on this ‘bottomfeeder status’ that was hoisted upon them by the Phillies’ broadcast team early in the season,” he said. “They’re playing with house money; no one expects them to be here and no one expects them to advance. For me, I would say eliminate any hope that that may take place.”

A longer series against a more prolific lineup could also begin to stretch the Atlanta pitching staff more than the series against Cincinnati proved to do. Starters Max Fried and Ian Anderson will have to pave the way for a mangled starting rotation.

“We all know that the one question about the Braves is how deep is the starting rotation and can these kids continue to pitch the way that they’re pitching? We didn’t see Kyle Wright (in the wild card round) but we will in this series. Can Max Fried back it up? Can Ian Anderson have another really good start? This is a huge opportunity for them and a huge challenge too, but I don’t think either of these guys are scared of stepping in and doing exactly what they did,” Caray said.

Wright, who struggled through the first part of the season, has shown signs of improvement in his last two starts, going through six frames against the Red Sox and Mets, allowing just three hits and two earned runs. If the series goes to a fourth game, though, Caray suspects the Braves will have to lean on another strength of their pitching staff in order to keep the Marlins quiet.

“I would guess it would be a bullpen game,” Caray said. “A lot of that will be predicated based on the first three games.”

As important as it is for Atlanta to limit runs in a smaller ballpark at Minute Maid Park, Caray stressed the weight of Atlanta’s ability to score early and often, something the Braves failed to do against Cincinnati.

“The Marlins, like the Reds, have very, very good starting pitching. It’s a strikeout staff. Runs are not going to be easy to come by in any sense for Atlanta’s offense. The opportunities they get, they’ve got to cash them in,” Caray said. “Hopefully, for Atlanta, (they will) drive pitch counts up on these young Marlins starters, get them frustrated and flabbergasted and most importantly, get them out of the game and get into that bullpen that’s had its share of troubles this year.”

Ultimately, Caray believes the Braves just need to keep doing the simple things that earned them the second seed in the playoffs: putting the ball in play and pitching with precision.

“The Braves win this series with Fried, Anderson, and Wright pitching well, pitching effectively, getting the lead early, and getting the ball to the Braves bullpen,” he said. “If your starters stumble and you have to use your bullpen a lot with no days off and the series goes four or five games, you could very easily go through your bullpen. If the Braves offensively don’t play ‘ABC baseball’ and cash in the opportunities they are given, they could find themselves in a tight ball game where one crazy bounce or one fly ball could end it for you.”

Caray and the rest of the FOX Sports Southeast crew will be covering every Atlanta NLDS game with pregame and postgame shows. Both the crew and Braves fans alike hope these aren’t the last broadcasts they do this year.

“It’s been kind of a whirlwind these last couple of days, but we wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said. “We’re happy to surf the whirlwind, it’s when they stop playing that it gets awfully quiet real quick and I don’t think anybody in Braves country is quite ready for that yet.”