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The Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins 5-4 on Saturday night, drawing even at 44-44 with just Sunday’s game left before the All-Star break. They are four games back of the New York Mets and have a half game lead on the Philadelphia Phillies. Alas, the loss of Ronald Acuña Jr. may finally be too much for Atlanta to recover from:
Atlanta star Ronald Acuña Jr. has a torn ACL in his right knee and will miss the rest of the 2021 season. He’s expected to be out for 9-10 months.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 11, 2021
2021 is probably cooked if you’re a Braves fan. It’s been a valiant effort by Atlanta, who currently rank 11th in runs scored on the season, and fifth in homers. Currently, the Braves’ .186 ISO trails only the Giants (.191) and is tied with the bashing baby Blue Jays. But those numbers are destined to fall after Atlanta suffered yet another loss offensively.
Acuña’s 24 homers and 16 swipes will surely be missed by fantasy baseball managers, as will the 71 runs and 52 RBI. Those numbers are irreplaceable, in real and in fake life. It’s just a sad day all around.
At least the 10-month timeline puts Acuña returning sometime next spring, with probably pretty decent odds that the stud outfielder is ready for Spring Training next season. If you’ve got Acuña for this year, though, who are you replacing him with? At least we get a week to mourn this loss and make adjustments, eh?
Wishing you a speedy recovery, Acuña!