A lot of baseball happens in a weekend. This time around saw a gut-punch injury to one of the game’s best players, statement series victories from scuffling NL Central clubs and a potential mini-mutiny for MLB’s worst team.
Here’s what you need to know from the weekend across MLB.
Braves forced to catch Phillies without Acuña
Devastation and déjà vu: For the second time in four years, Braves superstar outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr has a torn ACL.
In the first inning of Atlanta’s Sunday game against Pittsburgh, the reigning NL MVP went down in a heap while bluffing an otherwise innocuous fake steal of third. He spent minutes on the ground clutching his left knee before being helped off the field with a grimace on his face.
Postgame imaging confirmed the worst: Acuña has a complete ACL tear in his left knee. The Braves announced in a statement that Acuña will undergo surgery and miss the remainder of the season. It’s the second ACL tear of the 26-year-old’s career as he ruptured the same ligament in his right knee leaping for a fly ball in July of 2021. That injury kept Acuña out for the remainder of that season; he watched from the dugout as the Braves captured the franchise’s first World Series title in over two decades.
Sunday’s injury is a brutal blow for the team and the man. The already struggling Braves face four months without their best player while Acuña must endure another lengthy rehab — but it’s also a massive loss for the entire sport. A locked-in, rip-roaring, blazing on all cylinders version of Acuña is one of baseball’s most electrifying characters. He showed last season, with an unprecedented 41-homer, 73-steal, unanimous MVP campaign, the scope and scale of his unfettered talents. A league without a fully operational Acuña is a less interesting, less enjoyable league. His absence will be loud.
The Braves, who sit six games behind Philadelphia in the division race, must now trudge forward without their most dynamic offensive player. It’s more bad news for a lineup that has struggled mightily in May. Only the Cubs, White Sox and Reds have scored fewer runs this month. The impending returns of third baseman Austin Riley (out since May 12) and catcher Sean Murphy (out since Opening Day) will help offset the loss of Acuña, but this was a unit in need of a jolt before its leadoff man hit the turf at PNC Park.
In the short term, the Braves are likely to make Adam Duvall — who has been platooning in left field this…