Home-field advantage still is within the Braves’ grasp, but it’ll require some assistance from a familiar foe.
The Braves and Rockies are tied at 90 wins with two games remaining. The Braves need the Nationals to defeat Colorado at least once to make home-field advantage in the National League Division Series feasible.
The Braves already have been eliminated in the hunt for overall NL home-field, which will go to Chicago or Milwaukee.
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If the Braves win their next two against the Phillies, they need Washington to defeat Colorado once. If they win once, they need the Rockies to lose twice. If the Braves and Rockies win or lose out, Colorado wins the tiebreaker, which is head-to-head record.
The Dodgers are a contender. If they sweep the Giants, they’ll require one Colorado loss to force a tie atop the NL West. The teams would play a tie-breaker game in Los Angeles on Monday in the event they’re even after 162.
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Los Angeles needs a better result in their series than the Rockies, to put it simply. If Colorado wins two of three, L.A. must sweep to tie. If the Rockies win one of three, L.A. can take two of three to tie or sweep San Francisco to win the West outright.
The Dodgers also hold home-field over the Braves in the event of a tie. But both teams being forced into a 163rd game while the Braves rest plays favorably for the eastern team.
“We got a tough opponent tomorrow (Phillies starter Aaron Nola),” manager Brian Snitker said. “That kid is really, really good. But that’s what we’re trying to do. We’d love to open at home. The guys are fresh. Everybody is strong right now.
“We’ve given guys a few days off the last week and these guys are good. Everybody’s aware – the pitching, we’re trying to set that up. But that being said, we’d love to win these next two games and put ourselves in position to have homefield for this next series.”
National League wild -card game: Tuesday, Oct. 2
National League Division Series schedule
(Both best-of-five series set for the same day)
Thursday, Oct. 4: Game 1
Friday, Oct. 5: Game 2
Sunday, Oct. 7: Game 3
*Monday, Oct. 8: Game 4
*Wednesday, Oct. 10: Game 5
* - if necessary
