Ronald Acuña Jr. will take the field at Truist Park on Tuesday carrying more than the usual October spotlight. Atlanta’s leadoff star has not found his usual impact through five postseason games, and the Braves will look to him to help turn a tied National League Division Series into a 2-1 advantage when they host Game 3.
First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET, with FS1, FOX Deportes and FOX One carrying the game.
Acuña is 3-for-18 this postseason, with three walks, three strikeouts and no extra-base hits. He has still created trouble with his legs, swiping three bases, but the slugging presence that defines his game has been absent. His postseason OPS stands at .485.
That quiet stretch comes after a strong finish to the regular season, when Acuña posted a .997 OPS over his last 26 games. The October assignment, of course, has been a different kind of test. He has faced a steady run of high-end arms in Jesús Luzardo, Cristopher Sánchez, Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell.
Acuña said he welcomes those matchups, even with the quality of the stuff coming his way.
“I enjoy facing pitchers who are stars,” Acuña said. “Every time I step in, I’m competing. We’re trying to win, and I’m giving my best. Those pitches are nasty.”
A moment that showed the October pressure
Atlanta won Game 2, but one eighth-inning sequence underlined how unusual Acuña’s recent postseason results have been. With runners on second and third and one out, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts chose to intentionally walk Drake Baldwin, loading the bases for a right-on-right matchup with Acuña.
Baldwin has not been hot himself, owning a .484 postseason OPS, slightly below Acuña’s mark. Still, Roberts elected to take his chances with Acuña, and Roki Sasaki got the matchup he wanted when Acuña bounced into an inning-ending double play.
That decision would have been difficult to imagine during Acuña’s 2023 masterpiece. That season, he batted .337 with a 1.017 OPS and became the first player in Major League history to pair at least 40 home runs with 70 stolen bases in the same year.
His broader October record has been rougher than this week’s sample. Since 2023, Acuña has recorded a .495 OPS in 39 postseason plate appearances. Among 121 Major Leaguers with at least 35 postseason plate appearances in that span, that figure ranks 108th.
Braves remain convinced
The Braves do not see a player lost at the plate as much as a superstar trying to force the moment. Chris Sale said returning home could help Acuña settle into his normal rhythm in front of the Atlanta crowd.
“We need Ronald to be Ronald,” Sale said. “Even at 50 percent, he’s better than most players. Going home may take away some of that pressure. In these spots, sometimes a player tries to do too much.”
Manager Walt Weiss expressed little concern, pointing to the scale of Acuña’s talent and the belief that it will eventually surface.
“The talent is so great that it’s going to show,” Weiss said.
Matt Olson echoed that confidence, noting that Acuña does not need to carry the entire lineup by himself to influence a game.
“Ronald is our best player and probably our most gifted,” Olson said. “He doesn’t need to be Superman. He can affect a game in so many different ways. Everyone here believes in the player and the talent he is.”
October slumps have reached other accomplished hitters, too. Pete Crow-Armstrong, a leading candidate for the National League MVP award, has a .342 OPS over 37 postseason plate appearances in the same span. Olson, despite two seasons with more than 40 homers, owns a .490 postseason OPS, just behind Acuña.
For Acuña, Game 3 offers another chance rather than a verdict. The Braves have a home crowd waiting, a series still there to take, and a player whose speed, patience and power can change an inning before the next pitch is thrown.
