Down The Stretch They Come!

The Atlanta Braves are hanging on for their playoff lives with a mere 10 games to go. They won last night over the Reds and those two teams play again today in their series finale.

The Bravrs are two games behind both the Mets snd the Diamondbacks for the third and final wild card playoff spot in the National League. There will be no East Division title for Atlanta this year, but as they have learned over the past two years, that title is not worth much if you happen to run into a hot opponent in the playoffs , especially if that opponent has three or more decent starting pitchers– which this year, could include Atlanta. And let's recall, they face the Mets for three of their final nine games.

Thanks to the acquisition and subsequent renaissance of one Chris Sake, the Braves have the League's best pitcher. Sale goes today for the Braves, and could get two more starts if needed.

They also have Max Fried, and Charlie Morton– each one is a proven post-season performer . Which guarantees nothing but it does mean the Braves could cause more trouble in the playoffs than their middling regular season record would suggest.

But first, they've got to make the post -season. . From there,, as Jim Valvano famously said, it's " survive and advance,

Patrick Conarro

RamblinSports.com