We’re almost to the half way point of the Major League Baseball season and similar to last year, and one of the hottest teams right now is the Atlanta Braves as their 10-4 win over the Pirates on Saturday extended their current win streak to 10 in a row, the longest active win streak in the majors. As the Braves have gone streaking, they have turned things around moving six games above .500 from four below prior to the streak and more importantly, they have been able to gain some ground on the National League East leading Mets, who had an 11 game lead on Atlanta prior to the Braves’ win streak, but following an 11-6 to the Angels on Saturday, now lead the Braves by five and half games.
While Atlanta fans are happy to see their team finally able to string together these wins while making up some ground in the standings, they are also paying attention to the Phillies, who have also found themselves on a hot streak with the second longest win streak in the majors as they have picked up nine consecutive wins and sit eight games back of the Mets and just two and a half games back of the Braves. On Sunday, the Braves, Phillies and Mets will all wrap up their current series with their respective opponents and will all head into a set of interesting series that could potentially result in a shake up between the three teams in the standings.
Once the Braves wrap up with Pittsburgh on Sunday, they will head into a favorable three game series with the Nationals followed by a three game set with the Cubs, also a winnable series for the Braves. Having already faced both teams earlier this season, the Braves went 1-2 against the Nats and 2-1 against the Cubs, however following those matchups, competition gets a little stiffer for the Braves the 10 games to follow as they will take on the Giants in a four games series followed by the Dodgers for three games and then division rival, the Phillies for three games. While we do not want to look past any of the teams the Braves will be facing over the next 14 days, the Braves could find themselves in an interesting position when the Philly series rolls around.
While immediate focus has been gaining ground on the Mets, with the Phillies streaking right along with the Braves and now sitting just two and a half games back of them, how concerned should Atlanta fans be with the potential of the Phillies leaping the Braves in the standings? After they close out their Arizona series on Sunday, the Phillies will head into a 10 game stretch against opponents that include a three game set with Miami beginning on Monday, followed by a five game series with the Nationals, then two games with the Texans. While the Phils dropped their previous series to the Marlins 3-1, and 0-2 to the Rangers and will face Washington for the first time this season, it is fair to say that the Braves will have the tougher 10 game stretch.
So how important will the next series be between Atlanta and Philadelphia? Well, we know the future is hard to predict, but it is probably safe to say that there is a good chance when the two meet up at the end of the month, we could be watching a series that could result in a position change in the standings or should the Braves still lead the Phillies at the time of the start of the series, they would have a chance to increase their lead over them. However, I think if you ask any Atlanta fan, they’ll probably tell you that the ideal situation will be the Braves leading the division by the time the two meet up and increasing their lead over the entire division, but time will tell.
