Austin Riley's injury update is a huge sigh of relief for the Braves

It would have been such a crushing blow to see Austin Riley go on injured list for the Atlanta Braves. While he has struggled for the most part at the plate for the first six or seven weeks of the season, the Braves are a better baseball team with him in the every day lineup. On Sunday night vs. the New York Mets, Riley was pulled from the game for precautionary reasons after injuring his oblique on a big swing.

This is the same type of injury that catcher Sean Murphy sustained on Opening Day. He has not been with the big-league club in the month and a half since. Factor in ace pitcher Spencer Strider being out for the year with a UCL injury in his throwing arm, and you can sense why Braves Country was starting to collectively panic. The good news is that Riley is probably not going to go on the injured list now.

MLB.com's Mark Bowman confirmed that Riley's MRI from Monday revealed only inflammation. This means he will probably be back in the starting lineup and manning third base some point later this week. In the meantime, look for Zack Short to man the hot corner in his absence. He already came up big for the Braves in his first-ever start for the team in Atlanta's 2-0 shutout victory over Chicago.

Given that manager Brian Snitker likes to play guys like Riley religiously, his return will be welcomed.

After getting swept vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Braves have won five of their last six games.

Atlanta Braves get a fantastic injury update on third baseman Austin Riley

This is one of the best parts of Snitker being the Braves' manager. He knows that the law of large numbers will work in his favor when it comes to regular season excellence. It is why he starts the same guys every day when he can. When healthy, you should expect for Riley to man third, Matt Olson to man first and for Ronald Acuña Jr. to man right field every possible chance the Braves get.

Even if all three are struggling at the same time, which we have been experiencing for pretty much a month or so now, just imagine when two, or all three, click at the same time. This is one of the toughest lineups to navigate in MLB. Atlanta may only be two games back of the Philadelphia Phillies, but we have not seen anything close to the Braves' best baseball this season, and you all know that!

Ultimately, not having an All-MLB performer at third base go on the IL would be massive for any team, much less a title contender like the Braves with talent seemingly everywhere across the diamond. To me, I think Snitker will be smart about it, as he understands this is a marathon and not a sprint. I would expect that once the inflammation subsides that Riley will be penciled into the starting lineup again.

With the way Bowman explained it, he might actually play before the end of the Chicago Cubs series.