After a quick jaunt up to the Bronx, the Atlanta Braves are now back at home to play the team from Queens again. Despite the fact that the New York Mets have been mired in the cellar for most of this season, they have continued to give the Braves fits and it’s to the point now where this can’t possibly be considered a “gimme” series for the Braves. It sure would be nice if they can take it but as we’ve seen before, it’s likely not going to be easy!
Meanwhile, the homestand will continue with the Braves
welcoming in an Arizona Diamondbacks team that’s well and truly in the thick of the Wild Card race to the point where this could be a potential Postseason preview if the Braves don’t end up with the bye in October. There’s definitely a very interesting week ahead of the Braves.
August 10-12: New York Mets
Current Record: 52-67 Projected Record (via FanGraphs): 74-88
Depending on your outlook, you’re either annoyed that this’ll be the final series of the season against the Mets or relieved that they won’t have an opportunity to trip up the Braves in September. Either way, the season series wraps up this week and the only way that the Braves can end up winning the season series is if they pull off a sweep this week.
A sweep sure would be lovely but at the same time, it doesn’t help matters that the Mets are actually on a nice run of form in recent days. They’re coming off of a successful road trip where they swept the Guardians (most of the AL is a hot mess) and then took a series over the Pirates (who are starting to fade, themselves), so the Mets are surely feeling pretty confident about their chances heading into this series. In fact, the Mets are actually a game over .500 since the break, so they’ve certainly began to figure things out a bit. It’s still much too late for their Postseason hopes but the team with the second-highest payroll in baseball has to have something to hang their hats on, right?
Anyways, the Mets will be sending the trio of Christian Scott, Nolan McLean and Zac Thornton to the mound this week in order to match up with Bryce Elder, Martín Pérez and Tyler Mahle, respectively. None of these pitchers have exactly dominated the Braves but they’ve been frustrating enough to where Atlanta has only one two of the five games that these guys have collectively started against them — with both wins coming in games that Christan Scott started. That hasn’t meant that things were easy street against Scott either — one of those wins was a 1-0 nailbiter. Even when the Braves do manage to knock these guys off, it’s tough.
As far as hitting goes, you’ll be “pleased” to hear that the Mets have also been hitting the ball pretty well lately. Since the last time these two locked horns, the Mets have collectively hit .251/.315/.430 with a 108 team wRC+. For comparison’s sake, the Braves have been hitting .254/.301/.474 with a 109 wRC+ since these two had their most recent encounter.
As usual, the names to watch are Francisco Lindor, Marcus Semien, Jared Young, Francisco Alvarez, Carson Benge and the sleep paralysis demon known as Bo Bichette. If the Braves can keep most of those guys quiet then they should be fine — or in typical Braves/Mets fashion, the Mets will probably absolutely clamp down on Atlanta’s lineup with their pitching and make it a moot point. It’s all on the table. Please win this series, Braves.
(P.S.: Jefry Yan is coming. He’s gonna throw serious heat and he’s going to do his little wacky celebration. Hopefully the Braves get hits off of him so we don’t have to see it against Atlanta but just be prepared for it! I think it’s hilarious but I can see how the traditionalists might be going on a rant this week. Let the guy celebrate.)
Monday, August 10 at 7:15 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Tuesday, August 11 at 7:15 p.m. ET (BravesVision, Gray TV)
Wednesday, August 12 at 7:15 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
August 14-16: Arizona Diamondbacks
Current Record: 63-56 Projected Record: 85-77
Hoo boy, it’s been a hot minute since the Braves have seen the Diamondbacks. You have to go all the way back to early April in the third series of the season, which is when Atlanta went into the desert and claimed a split of a four-game series. It was the first sign that this was probably going to be a good team since it sure felt like Atlanta could’ve come away with more than just a split (and maybe even a sweep if things had bounced differently), so it sure felt like a good omen that the Braves would eventually go on the heater that they did to start the season — though nobody could’ve predicted the extended heater that helped propel the Braves into a massive lead in the NL East.
As far as the Diamondbacks go, they’ve played themselves into a pretty good spot to where they’re currently a game ahead of the Padres for a Wild Card spot and tied with the Phillies on win percentage when it comes to owning one of those wild card spots. They’re also very similar to the Phillies in multiple ways — they’re both 6-4 in their last 10 games, they both have paltry run differential numbers (the Diamondbacks are +5, the Phillies have a completely even run differential, amazingly), they’re both 60-59 in Expected Win/Loss record and they’re both under .500 against teams with winning records this season.
They’re both similar in that their hitting has been a bit underwhelming while their pitching staff has been keeping them alive for the most part. Brandon Pfaadt and Eduardo Rodriguez have been standout performers for the D-Backs so far since the break and they both played a big role in helping to keep the Dodgers quiet over this past weekend series. They’ll both likely be pitching against the Braves during this weekend’s series so the Braves will have to be prepared for some fierce competition from the mound once Arizona comes to town.
Despite pitching being this team’s calling card, the Dimaondbacks can still hit the ball. Nolan Arenado has been pretty productive since the All-Star break and he’s been joined by guys like Ildemaro Vargas, Geraldo Perdomo, Gabriel Moreno and Ryan Waldschmidt. It’s been a hot-and-cold season for Arizona at the plate during this season and right now it appears that they’re closer to the hot side than not.
The only other weird quirk right now is that Arizona’s essentially been spinning their wheels in the mud since the calendar flipped to August. Sure, they just got done beating the Dodgers over a three-game series but at the same time, they’ve alternated between a win and a loss for their past eight games. If the pattern holds up, they’ll drop a home series against the Rockies but then proceed to come to Atlanta and win this series. Hopefully the Braves will be able to break the pattern (and take the series no matter what type of form the Diamondbacks happen to be in heading into this series) but we all know that baseball is a goofy sport, so don’t be shocked if that pattern is still in play coming into this series.
Friday, August 14 at 7:15 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Saturday, August 15 at 7:15 p.m. ET (FOX)
Sunday, August 16 at 1:35 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
