Braves face 7 road games in 7 days across 4 cities
It will be quite a week for the Braves.
The team left Atlanta on Sunday, after beating the Diamondbacks 5-3 at Truist Park, and arrived in Minneapolis where they are scheduled to play three games against the Twins starting Monday. And that’s just the beginning of the fun.
After a day game Wednesday, the Braves will head south to Chicago where they are scheduled to face the White Sox on Thursday afternoon. That’s a makeup of a June 11 rainout at Rate Field.
From there, the Braves will head to Milwaukee to play the Brewers, first Friday night and then Saturday afternoon. But not Sunday.
Those two teams are scheduled to meet in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on Sunday night as part of MLB’s Little League Classic at Muncy Bank Ballpark. The Braves will spend the night in Milwaukee on Saturday before getting to Pennsylvania on Sunday ahead of the game.
A welcome off day is scheduled for Aug. 24.
“It’ll be a grind,” Braves first baseman Matt Olson said. “It’s not going to be ideal for us. There’s no way to kind of sugarcoat that. But Little League game will be fun. At least those cities are kind of close to each other. And we got a chance to kind of build off this win (Sunday) and pick up some steam here.”
This week’s trip will not only test the Braves from a travel and endurance standpoint, but from a competitive standpoint as well.
The Twins (60-65) are still very much alive in the American League’s Wild Card race, entering the week 1.5-games back of a playoff spot.
The White Sox (65-58), thought by many before the season started to likely be a last-place team, have maintained their strong play throughout the summer and are leading the Tigers by 5.5 games in the AL Central. A win Thursday would give them a series sweep against the Braves.
In Milwaukee, the Brewers (77-48) have been one of the National League’s best teams all season and have a five-game lead on the hard charging Cubs in the NL Central. The Braves took 2 of 3 from the Brewers on June 19-21.
“I talk about the challenges of a major league season, and they show up in all kinds of varieties, right? This is one of them,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “We got four cities on this trip. Playing some tough teams. So, yeah, there’s challenges all the time. That’s why you got to have the right guys in the room, and I feel like we do.”
Sunday’s matchup between the Braves and Brewers is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN. The event “will pay homage to Hank Aaron through the continuation of his famous mantra, ‘Keep Swinging,’ celebrating his perseverance, courage and optimism in a way that resonates with young players navigating their own challenges on and off the field,” according to the MLB website.
Players from both the Braves and Brewers are expected to visit the Little League International Complex on Aug. 23 to attend Little League Baseball World Series games that are scheduled for 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. that day.