The Braves, who clinched a third consecutive National League East championship Tuesday night, will open the playoffs one week from today.
As division champs, the Braves are guaranteed to be a top-three seed in the NL playoffs and to host a best-of-three opening round at Truist Park, where they’re 17-8 and averaging 6.68 runs per game this season.
Over the next five days, the Braves' opponent for the first round, which MLB has dubbed the wild-card series, will be sorted out:
Will the Braves be the No. 2 or No. 3 seed? As the standings stand today, they would be the No. 2 seed, because their 33-22 record is one game better than the NL Central-leading Cubs' 32-23. (The Dodgers clinched the NL West championship and the league’s No. 1 seed Tuesday.) Whether the Braves or Cubs wind up with the second seed depends on what happens in the teams' five remaining regular-season games. The Braves have two more against the Marlins and three against the Red Sox, all at home. The Cubs have two against the Pirates and three against the White Sox, all on the road.
(A refresher on how the seeding works for the 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 teams with the next-best records regardless of division, the wild-card teams, will be the Nos. 7-8 seeds.)
Who would the Braves play in the opening round if they’re the No. 2 seed? They would open against the No. 7 seed. As the standings and tiebreakers stand today, that would be the Reds. But as many as a half-dozen teams – Reds, Cardinals, Brewers, Giants, Marlins, Phillies -- could wind up as the No. 7 seed, so stay tuned.
Who would the Braves play in the opening round if they’re the No. 3 seed? They would open against the No. 6 seed, which will be the team with the worst record among the second-place finishers. As the standings stand today, that would be a familiar foe: the Marlins, the second-place team in the East, against whom the Braves are 5-3 this season. But the No. 6 seed just as easily could turn out to be the second-place team in the NL Central (Cardinals, Reds or Brewers). And the Phillies are still in contention for second place in the East.
Check back each morning this week for the latest update on the Braves Playoff Watch.
