On Monday, at the very least, the Braves will still be atop the National League East.
Does that take some of the shine off this weekend’s series with the rivals Phillies? Perhaps. But the next three matchups still hold significant weight as the Braves try to seal up a division title.
With 15 games remaining in the regular season, the Braves’ magic number to clinch the NL East is 11. The magic number to clinch a postseason berth is eight. Thus, the Braves won’t be popping any celebratory Champagne this weekend, but they could be come next week.
And they’re one step closer to doing that because of a 3-1 win over the Rays on Thursday, a victory which broke a three-game losing streak and that came on the same day the Phillies lost to the Astros.
“You want to be playing games that are meaningful. You want to have meaningful baseball in September, and you want to be challenging yourselves constantly,” said Braves outfielder Mike Yastrzemski, who had a key pinch-hit, ground-rule double in Thursday’s eighth inning. “Obviously, you want to put up more wins and losses, but you also want to see how you rebound after tough losses, and I think we responded really well (Thursday).”
The Braves (86-61) lead the Phillies by four games in the standings. They have a 100% chance to make the playoffs, according to FanGraphs, and a 93.1% chance to win the division.
Despite being just 4-5 in August, and a modest 10 games over .500 since the All-Star break, they’ve still been able to stave off the Phillies (82-65) week after week. The Phillies come to Atlanta after losing 2 of 3 at home to the Astros while the Braves were dropping 2 of 3 at home to the Rays.
Chris Sale (14-9, 2.10) is scheduled to pitch for the Braves on Friday. A week ago at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia he held the Phillies to two runs over six innings in a game the Braves won 5-2.
Sale will be opposed by Aaron Nola (6-10, 4.76), who last Saturday allowed just one run over seven innings against the Braves before the Braves scored four late runs in a 5-4 win.
On Saturday, Tyler Mahle (5-10, 4.05) will be on the mound for the Braves while Jesús Luzardo (14-5, 2.87) will throw for the Phillies. Mahle allowed two runs (both unearned) in last Saturday’s game against the Phillies while Luzardo spun a two-hit shutout Sunday in which he struck out 12.
Sunday’s pitching matchup will feature Grant Holmes (9-5, 3.46) against Andrew Painter (3-9, 5.71). Holmes, last Sunday, went six scoreless against the Phillies while Painter, a rookie, is 0-2 with a 7.45 ERA in two starts against the Braves this season.
Braves’ manager Walt Weiss reiterated the importance of his team’s starting pitching, not only for this weekend, but beyond.
“When you get good starting pitching, sometimes it just takes a timely hit or two to win a game,” he said. “That’s why you know how I’m always preaching starting pitching is the most valuable commodity in the game. It was 100 years ago, it’ll be 100 years from now. No matter how many times you try to reinvent the game, it all starts on the mound. And the game falls into place when you get a good start.”
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