Thankfully, the Atlanta Braves avoided a sweep at the hands of the Brewers after their triumph on Sunday, but no one would accuse the Braves of playing well right now. The rotation has surprisingly held up its end of the bargain, but the offense has been lackluster at best, and the rotation has shown some shakiness of late. Complicating matters is that the Phillies have woken up again and have made the NL East race interesting.
Not unlike the Braves, the Phillies have been incredibly streaky this season. They were abysmal at the start of the season, got hot as the first half came to a close, were bad once the second half started again, and now they are absolutely on fire. The result has been a division race that is a bit closer than Braves fans would have hoped.
While Atlanta can't do much about the Phillies' unwillingness to lose baseball games, it does mean that this upcoming series against the Dodgers has some outsized importance for the Braves' playoff aspirations.
Braves need a strong showing against the Dodgers with the Phillies nipping at their heels
The Braves do have things going for them. For starters, they are catching LA at a pretty good time, as they are banged up with injuries and have looked vulnerable in the second half. A bad series against the Dodgers also wouldn't be the Braves' doom exactly, as they play the Phillies seven times in the first two weeks of September, so they will have a chance to remedy any missteps.
However, playing the Phillies that much in the final months of the season is a two-way street. Just as the Braves could put the division away during that stretch, they could also fumble any lead they have and give Philly the inside track towards stealing the NL East crown. In a playoff field where getting a first round bye could be invaluable, the Braves need all the wins they can get right now. Unfortunately, getting those wins out of the Dodgers and Phillies is easier said than done.
Unfortunately, this is the situation the Braves put themselves in. Had they performed better to close out the first half or over the last couple of weeks, the final month of the season would have been much more of a formality. Now, the Braves find themselves hanging on to their division lead for dear life, and they have to show out against two of their bigger rivals to do so.
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