Braves Briefing: Opening Day was a success for the Atlanta Braves

Here's a quick look around the MLB from an Atlanta Braves perspective.

Atlanta defeated the Washington Nationals 7-2 in Opening Day fashion. They do not play today but will return to action on Saturday.

Max Fried Update

Atlanta's starting pitcher Max Fried left the game with a hamstring issue after the first 3.1 innings. He threw 68 pitches, 48 of them being strikes.

Fried had a similar injury in 2021 and only missed a few weeks of action.

“It’s a long season. Definitely turned it around in 2021," Fried said. "I’m going to make sure I’m doing everything I can so when I do take that mound again, I’m ready to go."

Before he went out, he was throwing some major heat.

Max Fried, Filthy 88mph Changeup. 👌 pic.twitter.com/UHV4dujIOJ

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 30, 2023

NL East Update

The Braves and the New York Mets were the only teams in the NL East to pick up wins on Opening Day.

The current standings are:

Atlanta 1-0
NYM 1-0
Miami 0-1
Philadelphia 0-1
Washington 0-1

The Mets and the Marlins continue their series today at 6:40 ET.

Atlanta's next game will be against Washington on Saturday at 4:05 ET. The Phillies play the Texas Rangers on Saturday.

The pitch clock worked

The average game length on Opening Day was 2 hours and 42 minutes according to Baseball America. Of the 15 games yesterday, 10 were under three hours. Last year on Opening Day, the average length was 3 hours and 11 minutes. That's a 29-minute difference. 

We will track this stat for the next few weeks as we all get used to the MLB's new rules.

We wrote it

In recapping the Braves' Opening Day win, Braves Today Editor-in-Chief Lindsay Crosby listed several takeaways. One of which was his thoughts on Atlanta's lineup.

Atlanta started the usual suspects we were expecting, but not necessarily where we thought they would be. Second baseman Ozzie Albies batted cleanup, a position we've normally seen catcher Sean Murphy or DH Marcell Ozuna holding down. (Ozzie was 2-5 with an RBI on the day). Eddie Rosario got the day off against the lefty Patrick Corbin, with Ozuna playing left field and d'Arnaud at DH.
d'Arnaud acclimated himself well to the DH role, going 4-5, but Ozuna struggled at the plate. He put four balls in play with an average exit velocity of 79.6mph, going 0-4 before being replaced for defensive reasons by Sam Hilliard to open the 7th. The Braves gave Ozuna extra at-bats in Grapefruit League action to get the bat ready to go - we'll have to see if this was just an off-day for the slugger. 

Find all of his takeaways here.

What's next?

Atlanta gets a day off before Saturday's game two against the Nationals, with the first pitch scheduled for 4:05 ET. The game broadcast, with Voice of the Braves Brandon Gaudin, is available inside Braves Country on Bally Sports Southeast, and is available on MLB.TV outside of the broadcast area. The radio call, with Ben Ingram, is available locally on WIFN 1340 AM/103.7FM or outside the Atlanta market on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network or MLB.com.

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Stories from Opening Day

Max Fried leaves the game

Takeaways from Atlanta's game one win vs Washington

Watch Ronald Acuna get the first hit and stolen base this season

Watch Orlando Arcia register the first BRI of the season

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