The Atlanta Braves enter this homestand with a chance to clinch their season with three series wins.
The Atlanta Braves enter this weekend with an 82-64 record and a 7.5 game lead in the NL East over the Philadelphia Phillies, 8.5 games over the Washington Nationals. A positive homestand could end up clinching the division.
Winning all three series would mean a 2-1 series win over Washington, a 2-1 series win over St. Louis, and a 3-1 series win over Philadelphia at the minimum. That would mean a 7-3 homestand. With a magic number of 10, and a total of at least 3 Phillies losses and 7 Braves wins, that would mean the Atlanta Braves would be your 2018 National League East champions, with a record of 89-67 heading into their final two series of the season.
Washington will leave Atlanta to play in Miami for 2 games and then host the New York Mets for four games. They currently have an elimination number of 8. If the Braves were to take 2 games out of the weekend series and finish the homestand with 7 wins, that would mean that the Nationals would be eliminated. Even if they were to win every single one of the rest of their games after leaving Atlanta, they would finish 87-75.
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Philadelphia hosts Miami and the New York Mets before coming to Atlanta. Even if they were to sweep both series, they would enter their series with Atlanta at 80-71. After the series with the Braves left them 81-74, they could ace the rest of their schedule, including the final home series against the Atlanta Braves, and they would finish 88-74.
That would mean the Braves could win the series this homestand and not need 90 wins to win the division, having the ability to allow rest over the final six games, able to win the division with 89 wins, even if they lost all six to the Mets and Phillies.
Tonight’s game against Max Scherzer could be a good test for the Atlanta Braves. The team has been playing very well, especially late, during their recent winning streak. Being able to play well this weekend against Scherzer and the Nationals is the first step toward clinching!