Marlins vs. Braves: Start time, how to watch, game thread and Fish Picks—NLDS Game 2

Welcome to Wednesday’s Marlins (0-1) vs. Braves (1-0) National League Division Series game thread. It’s a best-of-five series between NL East rivals who met 10 times during the 2020 regular season (Braves won six of those games). After losing the NLDS opener, FanGraphs gives the Fish a 12.8% chance of advancing to the next round.

If you are the optimistic and adventurous type, NLCS and World Series tickets just went on sale to the general public (limited supply, obviously).

The Fish Picks contest is continuing for the postseason! Free-to-play daily prop bets for all fans to make. The points leader at the end of the NLDS gets their choice of our new Marlins-themed t-shirts.

Bottom Feeders t-shirt

• $28

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The Fish Picks leaderboard will update daily to let you know where you stand.

Marlins Lineup

1. LF Corey Dickerson
2. 2B Jon Berti
3. DH Jesús Aguilar
4. 3B Brian Anderson
5. 1B Garrett Cooper
6. RF Matt Joyce
7. SS Miguel Rojas
8. CF Magneuris Sierra
9. C Chad Wallach

P Pablo López (3.61 ERA, 3.09 FIP, 24.6 K%, 32.3 Hard Hit% in 57.1 IP)

Baseball Savant

Notes: Some minor tweaks have been made to the lineup in between games, as predicted in the Game 1 recap...Starling Marte (fractured pinkie) will not be eligible for this series, putting pressure on Lewis Brinson and Sierra to provide quality at-bats. Here is the full 28-man active roster...Every Marlins reliever with the possible exception of Ryne Stanek—32 pitches on Tuesday—is believed to be available if needed for Game 2....It’s always difficult to anticipate what will happen in the postseason, but particularly in this case as Pablo makes his first official appearance since Sept. 24. He faced live batters on Saturday at Wrigley Field to simulate game conditions as closely as possible.

Braves Lineup

1. CF Ronald Acuña Jr.
2. 1B Freddie Freeman
3. DH Marcell Ozuna
4. C Travis d’Arnaud
5. 2B Ozzie Albies
6. SS Dansby Swanson
7. LF Adam Duvall
8. RF Nick Markakis
9. 3B Austin Riley

P Ian Anderson (1.95 ERA, 2.54 FIP, 29.7 K%, 32.1 Hard Hit% in 32.1 IP)

Baseball Savant

Notes: It didn’t take long for Acuña to take over this series. He reached base safely three times in Game 1, homering in the first inning, getting hit by a pitch in the third and singling in the seventh. But not to be overlooked, the phenom made an unorthodox, potentially dirty slide into second base that Miguel Rojas took exception to...Even more so than Pablo, Anderson leans on his changeup for success. He consistently confuses batters with it by mimicking his fastball release point, generating both whiffs and soft contact.

@braves/Twitter

How to watch/listen/follow

The first pitch is scheduled for 2:08 p.m. ET. FOX Sports Florida has Marlins Live pregame coverage at 1:30 p.m. You can flip back over there after the final out for the postgame show.

The game itself will be televised on MLB Network with a crew of Matt Vasgersian, Jim Kaat, Buck Showalter and Tom Verducci. If you don’t ordinarily have access to MLBN, check to see if your service provider is among those offering a special free preview. For a local perspective, you can listen on 940 WINZ.

Fish Picks

Please comment below or tweet to @fishstripes with your picks for the following props. The contest locks at first pitch.

1. Which team hits the longest home run? (Marlins/Braves)
2. Over/Under 5.5 strikeouts for Pablo López? (Over/Under)
3. Over/Under 1.5 total bases for Garrett Cooper? (Yes/No)
4. Will Braxton Garrett make an appearance? (Yes/No)
5. Who wins? (Marlins/Braves)