Ronald Acuña Jr. and Luisangel Acuña Face off

By Rebecca Bludgus

Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images

September 24, 2024

Tonight’s dire Atlanta Braves–New York Mets game will be the first time Ronald Acuña Jr. and Luisangel Acuña face off against each other. Before warm-up, the brothers engaged in a jersey swap.

Acuña’s take over the league

Ronald has earned star status since he debuted with the Braves in 2018. That year he won the Rookie of the Year Award. Since then he has been named an All-Star four times, is a three-time Silver Slugger, and won the 2023 NL MVP Award after having a 40/70 season. In his MVP season, he led the league in 10 offensive categories.

At 16, Luisangel was signed to a minor league deal by the Texas Rangers in 2018. At last year’s trade deadline, he was swapped to the Mets with cash for Max Scherzer. Luisangel made his Major League debut on September 14 and certainly has made his mark. In just 29 at-bats, he has a .379 batting average with six runs, 6 runs batted in, 3 home runs and a 1.228 OPS.

Wild wild wild-card race

With only six games left to play, the Mets are fighting to stay in a Wild Card spot and the Braves are fighting to be in one. Before tonight’s start, the Mets are currently in the second Wild Card spot, half a game above the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Braves are currently one and a half games away from the third and final spot.

For game one tonight, Luis Severino has the start for the Mets, and Spencer Schwellenbach for the Braves. Severino is starting tonight at a 3.79 ERA and Schwellenbach with a 3.61 ERA.

In Severino’s last seven starts, he acquired a 2.64 ERA with 47 strikeouts and a 1.11 WHIP. In his two starts against the Braves this season, he has allowed four runs in 10 innings with 10 strikeouts. Schwellenbach has only faced the Mets once this season where he struck out 11 and allowed two hits back in July. In his last seven starts, he had a 3.00 ERA, a 1.105 WHIP, and ranked up 41 strikeouts.