And an ace returns to Boston.
The Atlanta Braves got off to a bad start in 2025. Rather than competing for the division title, the Braves lost the first seven games of the regular season. That wasn’t in the playbook. Entering their 19th game of the season Atlanta’s record was 5-13. They would go on to win 9 of their next 12 and kept chugging away into the first half of May. A win on May 15th put the Braves at .500 for the first time this season. Ah, getting to .500. The Red Sox know this feelling well with experience both rising to falling back to an even record.
Friday’s game will be a face off of former Chicago White Sox lefties.
Old and busted Chris Sale:
Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Against the New Hotness, Garrett Crochet:
Photo by Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Luckily for Sale this isn’t a throwback uniform series. Who knows how many jerseys were spared by that fact alone.
The Atlanta offense has scored 175 runs while the pitching has allowed 171. Compared to Boston’s 221 and 206 numbers here the Sox might have some opportunity to do damage. While the Friday night game is strength vs. strength, Boston might have a chance to exploit the matchups in the other two games. The very strong warning light on Brayan Bello’s underlying metrics, however, would suggest that winning game one is the key to taking the series. Until the hot potatos Bello is serving up come home to roost in his ERA (that might be too many metaphors) Boston will try to ride the luck as long as possible.
For the Red Sox, this Atlanta team can be inspirational. They were considered toast just a few weeks ago. Now they’re right in the thick of things (despite all the “no team that lost X games to start the season ever made the playoffs” type of fun facts). But the Braves didn’t fold like so many blown bullpen saves.
Starting the weekend one game under .500 means that Boston needs two wins just to be at .500 on Monday.
Maybe the new City Connects will spark a winning streak.
Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday May 16: Chris Sale (3.97 ERA / 2.92 FIP) vs. Garrett Crochet (1.93 ERA / 2.60 FIP)
Saturday May 17: Grant Holmes (4.14 ERA / 5.18 FIP) vs. Lucas Giolito (5.51 ERA / 3.72 FIP)
Sunday May 18: Spencer Schwellenbach (3.31 ERA / 3.16 FIP) vs. Brayan Bello (2.33 ERA / 5.54 FIP)
When/Where to Watch
Friday May 16: 7:10 PM ET on NESN
Saturday May 13: 7:15 PM ET on NESN
Sunday May 18: 1:35 PM ET on NESN