The Atlanta Braves are in the thick of the playoff race with the New York Mets, and they trail their division rivals by 2.0 games with 10 games left to play. Despite their struggles at the plate -- and a seemingly endless stream of injuries down the stretch, the Braves have shown us why they are the team who no one will want to face come October.
The Steakhouse pounded the table for the Braves as a team who will cause issues for opposing teams if they were to face off in a three-, five-, or seven-game series.
"You know who we are the rest of the league? We're the team you don't want to in because we're dangerous with pitching," Rusty Mansell said. "You do not want to face our pitching staff in a playoff series with [Cy Young front-runner, Chris] Sale going game one.
"You do not want to face the Braves."
Game one would be the probable Cy Young winner, game two would be a big-game savant in Max Fried, and game three would be the National League's ERA-leader in Reynaldo López. Then there's a lineup which might be finally starting to wake up a bit and only needs a spark before turning into a wildfire.
But the team has plenty of work to do if they want to even have an opportunity to cause problems in October.
The Braves were able to take game two against the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday, and have one more in that series, before critical matchups with the Miami Marlins and Mets coming up next. To even make the postseason, this team must dominate down the stretch and cut the distance between them and the final wild card slot.