The Atlanta Braves head back to Truist Park to start a six-game homestand. They’re coming off a series win against the Milwaukee Brewers, their first series win in nearly a month. It’s a good start in course correction, but the upcoming series will make or break what’s left of their playoff aspirations.
They’re up against the seller-dweller Colorado Rockies and the National League East-leading New York Mets. Each series matters the one similar reason and its own unique reason.
A shared reason they matter is pretty straight forward. The Braves need to win now and can’t afford to wait to get back on track and longer. Even just winning the series is enough right now. It gets them slightly closer to .500 and builds momentum. It gives them a chance to have gone from losing six consecutive series to winning three in a row. It’s small but it’s a start.
The unique reasons are different types of tone setters. If the Braves can’t beat the Rockies, the mindset of things getting worst just kicks back in. If they win the series, cool, they at least limited the damage. It’s not another demoralizing weekend.
Winning the series with the Mets makes a statement. The Braves are still capable of beating the good teams. It also helps get back into the playoff race. The division, race not so much, but you still have to get through the division leaders if you want to catch up.
As of Thursday, the Braves are nine games back from a wild card spot. That is about where they were at the trade deadline in 2021 and they have an extra six weeks. For the record, this isn’t meant to fuel the “time is on their side” argument the Brave have been pushing. It’s just simply a fact that they have more time to come back than they have in previous comebacks. We’re just waiting for it to actaully be the case.
If they win four of six over the next week, we can circle back to if time is actually on their side. By then, they will have won six of nine and there’s a trend to work off of. One series win doesn’t end a losing spell, but three series wins in a row does. At that point, they have a minor case.
