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If you were really worried that the Braves wouldn’t have their lineup at full strength when the National League Division Series kicks off tomorrow afternoon, maybe this will help:
Snitker said Acuna and Freeman were not limited in any way during the simulated game conducted during yesterday’s workout.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) October 2, 2019
#Braves’ Freeman on simulated game Tuesday: “I didn’t feel my elbow at all. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow because I think I’m gonna be 100 percent.”
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) October 2, 2019
#Braves’ Acuña did an extended simulated game Tuesday and ran bases, had no problems with groin. Snit expects he’ll be 100 percent.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) October 2, 2019
The two sluggers represent a huge part of the expected damage-dealers and win-probability-aggregators for the NLDS. Freeman ended his season with a 138 wRC+ and 4.0 fWAR, but suffered a bit of a power outage towards the end of the year, with just two homers in September, both hit on September 1. It was the first time in over year that he had a calendar month with just two or fewer longballs (August 2018). Acuña finished the year as his team’s fWAR leader with 5.6, though his 126 wRC+ represented a bit of a stepback from his phenomenal Rookie of the Year campaign in 2018. While Acuña struck out a ton in September (33.7 percent, career high for any calendar month), he still hit pretty well (117 wRC+) and mostly just got unlucky, as he had a scaldingly-good .424 xwOBA (.359 wOBA) over his last 86 PAs.