It’s the time of year that should be fun for contending teams and their fans to keep an eye on out-of-town scores and enjoy the anticipation before each important game, counting down the weeks toward a possible playoff berth.
But excitement has been replaced by anxiety in Braves Country, where even the most optimistic fans were left shaking their heads — or worse — during an ugly 0-8 road trip that ended Wednesday at Seattle. Loss No. 8 saw Julio Teheran blow an early 3-1 lead and the Braves capped their longest winless trip in 65 years.
The reeling Braves find themselves not just a season-high 4 1/2 games behind National League East leader Washington, but three full games behind St. Louis, the current leader for the second of two available NL wild-card slots.
And so it’s not hyperbole to suggest that Atlanta’s 10-game homestand that starts Friday against three first-place teams — Nationals, Dodgers and Athletics — could be the defining, make-or-break event of their season.
“We’ve got to go back home and start winning series again,” said manager Fredi Gonzalez, whose Braves are 41-49 since their 17-7 start. “Big (series) to start off. We can’t worry about the next two. We’ve got a big series against Washington this weekend.”
The Braves could be as as few as 1 1/2 games out of first place in the NL East by late Sunday night. Or as many as 7 1/2 behind the Nationals if the Braves do what they did in all three cities on their just-completed trip: get swept.
They are 3-12 in their past 15 road games, including 0-6 in games decided by one run. And they haven’t sizzled lately at home either, going 6-6 in their past 12 home games despite a 2.72 ERA. They’ve hit .231 in those games and scored two or fewer runs in half.
“It’s been a tough go this whole season,” Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “Not (just) personally, it’s been up and down for us as a team. I get a couple of knocks, then I go 0-for the next 12 games, then get a couple of knocks. That’s just how it’s been this year. But you’ve got to keep grinding it out. We’ve still got six weeks left.”
On the trip, the Braves lost three at Los Angeles, three at San Diego and two at Seattle. Their offensive struggles reached new lows: They hit .235 and totaled 18 runs and two homers on the trip, including no homers in the last six games. They scored three or fewer in each of the last seven losses and were 13-for-71 (.183) with runners in scoring position for the trip.
Asked what the Braves needed to do to break out of their funk, Gonzalez said, “Timely hitting.”
Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw’s next scheduled turn is Sunday, meaning the Braves would avoid the left-hander in the series. Kershaw pitched a complete game with nine strikeouts in a 2-1 win against the Braves on July 31.
Still, the Dodgers have a loaded lineup and Zack Greinke and Hyun-jin Ryu among their starters in next week’s series. The Braves and Dodgers also have fresh memories of their past two series — the NL Division Series in October and last week in Los Angeles — in which the Dodgers are a combined 6-1 with a 2.71 ERA against the Braves, batting .319 with 11 homers.
Following the Dodgers will be the A’s, who have baseball’s best record (69-44 before Thursday) and best run differential, a jaw-dropping +164. The Braves are +3, a meager three more runs than opponents.
Much as the Dodgers know what they’ve done recently against the Braves, the Braves and Nationals are aware of recent results between the division rivals. The Braves are 7-3 against the Nationals this season and 24-9 with a 2.12 ERA in the past 33 games between the teams. There are nine games remaining between the teams, including six at Turner Field.
The Nationals haven’t played particularly well lately, but have been better than the Braves. Washington is finally getting healthy, while the Braves could be without shortstop Andrelton Simmons this weekend due to a sprained left ankle.
The Braves have averaged fewer than four runs per game while going 9-18 with a 3.95 ERA in their past 27 games, including an alarming 0-9 in games decided by one run.
The Nationals are 7-8 with a 3.31 ERA and only 58 runs and seven homers in their past 15 games, and 18 of those runs came in two games. They scored 40 in their other 13 games in that period and won back-to-back games twice.
While the Braves were off Thursday, the Nationals played a 13-inning game against the Mets and won, 5-3.
Atlanta will miss Nationals right-hander Jordan Zimmermann, who pitched Thursday. He has often given the Braves fits. In Friday’s opener, they’ll face Stephen Strasburg, who has struggled against them more than against any other team.
Strasburg has a career-worst 3-5 record and 4.04 ERA in 14 starts against the Braves, and is 1-2 with a 5.79 ERA in six starts at Turner Field.
