The month of April has not been great for the Atlanta Braves, but they have a real shot at ending the season’s opening month on a very high note.
After starting the 2021 season 0-4, the Atlanta Braves gave 8-6 since then, including a 3-2 road trip they just completed against the Cubs and Yankees.
That’s still not great, and those first four games can’t be taken away, but it certainly puts the month of April in a better light when you look at it that way.
And now they have a chance to really cap off the month of April strong and finish with a winning record, and with the way the rest of the division is playing, they could even finish the month in first place.
Right now the New York Mets sit atop the NL East, but the Braves are just 1.5 games back (tie in last place with the Washington Nationals).
Obviously it’s way too early to be looking at standings, but it’s nice to see that despite the slow start for the Braves no one else in the division has gotten have to a fantastic start either.
Rest of the Braves April schedule
The Braves got two off days this week, which will give some of their guys who are banged up — most notably Ronald Acuna Jr. — time to heal and hopefully be ready this weekend.
They have three games at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks who are 8-10 and hitting just .222 as a team this year coming into Thursday (they do have a game with the Reds on Thursday night).
The starting pitchers for the Diamondbacks rank 28th in the league with a 5.38 ERA, so it may be a chance for the offense to really get going.
Chicago has helped the Braves out in recent days winning a couple of games over the Mets, including a 16-4 drumming on Wednesday. They have the Mets again on Thursday and then play the Brewers over the weekend before coming to Atlanta for a four-game set.
The Cubs offense was the worst in the league in OPS coming into their first series with the Braves, but they’ve posted 13 and 16 runs in two of their last four games. They still rank 23rd in OPS, are hitting just .201 as a team, and have one of the worst strikeout rates in baseball.
And like the Diamondbacks, the Cubs starters have been among the worst in baseball, but their bullpen has been surprisingly good.
All that to say, these are series the Braves should win, and honestly, if they are close to full strength these are series they should dominate at home.
They also finish April in Dunedin, Fla. against the 8-10 Blue Jays.
Atlanta has a real chance to go 6-2 the rest of this month and finish April with a 14-12 record. That might not be the sexiest looking record to some of you, but if you do that every month you’ll be in playoff contention.
A lot obviously depends on health, but the Braves have a soft enough schedule to navigate through those injuries and still have a successful month of April.