Heading into the last weekend of the regular season, six teams are battling neck and neck for the final four spots in the National League playoffs. The Braves will face one of those teams in a best-of-three opening-round series at Truist Park next week.
An update through Thursday’s games:
Braves closing in on No. 2 seed: The NL East champion Braves need one more win or one more Chicago Cubs loss to clinch the NL’s No. 2 seed. The NL West champion Dodgers (39-17) have wrapped up the No. 1 seed. The Braves (34-23) play three games against the Boston Red Sox at Truist Park this weekend, while the NL Central-leading Cubs (32-25), who lost a third consecutive game to last-place Pittsburgh on Thursday, play three games at the White Sox. If the Braves and Cubs finish with the same record, the Braves hold the tiebreaker for the No. 2 seed based on a better intra-division record.
How significant is the No. 2 seed? Because so many teams are so closely bunched for the final four spots, all at least within one game of a playoff berth, it’s impossible to know whether the No. 2 or No. 3 seed would yield a more favorable first-round matchup. But here’s a valuable aspect of the No. 2 seed: If the Braves and Cubs win their opening-round series and meet in the neutral-site Division Series, the team with the higher seed would get the last at-bat in three of a possible five games.
Potential opponents if the Braves clinch the No. 2 seed (likely): They’d open the playoffs against the No. 7 seed, which will be the team with the better record of the two wild cards. Through Thursday’s games, that would be … the Cincinnati Reds, whose starting pitching could make them a daunting first-round opponent. The Reds play three games at Minnesota this weekend and could move up or down in the seeds. Five other teams – the St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, Milwaukee Brewers, Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies – could wind up as the Braves' opponent with the No. 7 seed. The Cardinals and Brewers have four games against each other over the next three days, including a Friday doubleheader. The Giants play four vs. San Diego. The Marlins play three at the Yankees and the Phillies three at Tampa Bay.
(A review of how the seeding works for this year’s expanded playoffs: The three division champs will be the top three seeds in order of record. The second-place finishers in the three divisions will be the Nos. 4-6 seeds in order of record. And the two wild-card teams will be the Nos. 7-8 seeds in order of record. The top four seeds will be the home teams throughout the first-round series, dubbed the Wild Card Series by MLB.)
If the Braves slip to the No. 3 seed (unlikely at this point): They’d open the playoffs against the No. 6 seed, which will be the second-place team with the worst record. That could be the runner-up in the NL East (the second-place Marlins are one game ahead of the Phillies) or the NL Central (the second-place Cardinals are one-half game ahead of the Reds).
Check back each morning this week for the latest updates on the Braves Playoff Watch.
