Ronald Acuña Jr.’s enemy found a new home with a rival the Braves are quite familiar with.
The Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins are quite familiar with one another given they play in the same division.
Yet, the centerpiece of this story has very little to do with either team’s future. Instead, it is once again the Los Angeles Dodgers in the middle of all things free agency.
Back in 2018, the Braves and Marlins got in an on-field scuffle after then-Marlins pitcher Jose Ureña plunked Acuña Jr. While the two sides might disagree with intent, MLB suspended Ureña. Now, the former Marlins pitcher has a new home with the rotation-needy Dodgers.
The Dodgers and Braves have gone toe-to-toe atop the National League for the past half-decade.
The Braves won the World Series in 2021, defeating the Dodgers along the way.
Los Angeles is aiming to become the first back-to-back World Series champions since the New York Yankees dynasty of the last century.
What Jose Ureña brings to the Los Angeles Dodgers
In doing so, LA must fortify its pitching staff, which ranks 22nd in all of baseball in team ERA. Much of that has to do with injuries to their top-flight starters.
Enter Ureña, who even if not a major piece to the puzzle could at least get some appearances in over the course of a 162-game season.
Ureña had spent time this season with the Toronto Blue Jays. His overarching numbers, including a 3.65 ERA, were a bit misleading, as he also had a 5-to-3 strikeout to walk ratio. If he’s going to remain a part of the mix for the Dodgers, he’ll have to do better than that.
Ureña has seen time as a starting pitcher and reliever in recent years. Just last season in Texas, he appeared in 33 games, only starting nine of those. He had a 3.80 ERA in that stretch.
Why Braves fans won’t forgive Jose Ureña anytime soon
Braves fans are familiar with Ureña due to his altercations with Acuña Jr. back in the late-2010’s.
Ureña hit Acuña Jr. with a near-98 MPH fastball in the final game of a three-game series in which the latter was trying to extend his then-streak of leadoff home runs to four straight games.
He had also hit home runs in five straight games altogether. This act, as well as the resulting altercation between the teams, led to a six-game suspension for Ureña. While the pitcher initially appealed, he would later drop it.
The Dodgers and Braves will always be tied together in this era not just because of their on-field battles, but due to Freddie Freeman’s free agency back in the winter of 2021-22.
Freeman had just won a World Series in Atlanta before bolting for the team they defeated in the NLCS. You guessed it – that’s the Dodgers.
Freeman has since backed up that decision by winning a World Series in 2024 and perhaps being a centerpiece for MLB’s next dynasty.
Braves fans don’t forget easily – just ask Freeman, who since signing in LA has received a mix of cheers and heartbreak from Atlanta faithful. Ureña will get a far different response if these two teams meet up again in the 2025 playoffs.
