It’s hard to believe, but there are just nine baseball games remaining in the regular season for the Atlanta Braves. The first of those nine will come on Friday night in Houston as the Braves battle with the Astros for first time in 2026.
The Astros, despite a paltry 77-76 record and a -50 run differential, find themselves atop the abysmal American League West by a game over the Rangers. For comparison, a 77-76 mark would place Houston just ahead of the Marlins in the NL East, a rousing 12 games back
of the Braves.
Houston’s lost six of their last 10 heading into the series, although they did take their most recent series against the Royals.
Friday night’s tilt will feature Tyler Mahle, who has been nothing short of superb with the Braves. Mahle ranks among the top 20 starters in baseball since the trade deadline, posting a stellar 1.25 ERA / 3.03 FIP / 3.22 xFIP across seven starts and 43.1 innings. Mahle’s coming off seven strong innings against the Phillies last weekend, allowing just one run on six hits and no walks. Mahle’s game plan on Friday will be issuing an intentional walk to Yordan Alvarez every time and working to get his peers out.
The Astros will counter with 29-year-old righty Peter Lambert, who has been the club’s best starter in 2026. Lambert owns a 3.71 ERA (3.81 FIP, 4.44 xFIP) across 26 starts. Outside of a complete blowup against the Angels on August 20, Lambert has allowed 2 earned runs or fewer in every start since the calendar flipped to July. An impressive run for a team that has fallen well short of expectations.
Atlanta holds a four-game lead over the Phillies in the division. The magic number sits at 5 to clinch. It would be nice to trim that number quite a bit this weekend to make the final week of the regular season mostly academic. The Phillies have a four-game series against the Mets this weekend, which they won the first game of on Thursday night
First pitch in Houston is set for 8:10pm ET. You can watch and listen to the game in all the usual places.
