After a difficult road trip in which the Atlanta Braves only won two games, they come back home hoping to bounce back and pick up ground in the NL East.
There are only four weeks left in the 2021 baseball season and the Atlanta Braves enter this week with a narrow 1.5 game lead in the NL East over the Philadelphia Phillies.
As I’ve been doing for the last several weeks now, I like to prepare you for the week ahead and what the Braves need to do in order to stay atop the division and in line to win the East.
The Braves didn’t do what they needed to do on their recent Westcoast trip. While I thought a split with the Rockies was fine considering how they play at home, getting swept by the Dodgers wasn’t part of the plan.
Even if they just won one of those games in LA — they had a chance to win two of them with a lead late — things would feel much differently coming home.
Now things are really tight in the East with the Phillies suddenly playing well, including a 12-0 drumming over Brandon Woodruff and the Brewers on Labor Day.
Braves Plan on 9-game Homestand
The plan on the Braves’ current homestand is simple — win every series. That is a must with this schedule, and really the rest of the way.
If they are going to hold off the Phillies — who have the easiest schedule in baseball the rest of the way — Atlanta has to win every series.
And that’s certainly the case now after that rough Westcoast trip.
The Nationals, Marlins, and Rockies should help.
Washington is one of the worst teams in baseball right and that should honestly be a sweep.
Miami always plays the Braves tough and that might be the hardest series on this homestand as that Colorado team is not the same outside of Coors Field.
Anything less than a 6-3 homestand would be a big disappointment. And 7-2 is realistic if they play like their capable.
The Phillies have two more with the Brewers and then they return home with four against the Rockies and three against the Cubs.
I think the best-case scenario for the Braves is the Phillies go 4-5 in that stretch. If that were the case and the Braves went 6-3, Atlanta would go back out West with a 3.5 game lead in the division.
But I think more realistically, the Phillies go 6-3 as well.
I do not feel comfortable with the Braves going back to the Westcoast for 10 games and just a 1.5 game lead. If that happens, I’m fairly confident the Braves come back home for their final homestand behind the Phillies.
This is a big week-and-a-half of games where the Braves need to try and create as much separation as possible before going West.