dpAs of right now, both of the teams that the Atlanta Braves will be facing this week are under .500. You’d think that would mean that this could be an opportunity for the Braves to really kick their second-half start into high-gear with two series wins against teams with mediocre records. That definitely could still happen and if the Braves continue to hit like they have during the month of July, it’s certainly possible!
With that being said, this could end up being one of those weeks where things get sideways and that’s because they could be running into one team at exactly the wrong time while it’s seemingly always the wrong time to run into the other club that Atlanta’s facing this week. The Orioles will be hosting the Braves at Camden Yards this weekend and they’re hot at the moment. Starting today, however, the Braves will be facing a Padres team that has just been a nightmare for them to deal with over the past two seasons.
Can the Braves break their hex against San Diego? Will they be able to cool off the O’s? It’s time to take a look at the week ahead.
July 20-23: San Diego Padres
Current Record: 49-50 Projected Record (via FanGraphs): 80-82
The last time the Braves saw the Padres, it went disastrously for Atlanta. Petco Park confirmed itself as the latest house of horror for the Braves as the three-game sweep at the hands of San Diego provided plenty of nightmare fuel for fans across Braves Country. In fact, the Padres may as well be the boogeyman as far as the Braves are concerned since Atlanta has gone 7-19 against San Diego since the start of the 2023 season and including the 2024 NL Wild Card series.
Of course a lot of that is due to Atlanta’s abysmal record at Petco Park but at the same time, the Braves haven’t fared too well against the Padres in Cobb County, either! In fact, the last time these two teams played a four-game series at Truist Park, the Padres ended up taking three-out-of-four. For some reason or another, the Padres have just had Atlanta’s number as of late.
Before the Braves ran into the brick wall that is the Padres, Manny Machado had been having a very underwhelming season at the plate as he had been hitting .179/.259/.366 with a wOBA of .273 and a wRC+ of 73. Then he ran into his good pals from Atlanta and it was as if that walk-off hit he delivered in the series opener reminded him of who he was and how good he can be. Ever since the Braves left town, Machado has hit .258/.383/.530 with a wOBA of .384 and a wRC+ of 147. Considering how well he’s done against the Braves historically and this run that he’s currently on, you can expect him to be a problem yet again.
San Diego will also be starting Michael King on Wednesday and he’s been a problem for the Braves to deal with since donning the brown-and-yellow. Counting the Postseason, two of King’s past three starts against the Braves have seen him go seven scoreless innings. Heading into this start, he’s only given up four runs across 17 innings over his past three starts, so that could be tough sledding for the Braves once again if King continues on his current run of form and his usual sense of comfort when pitching against the Braves.
Guys like Fernando Tatis Jr., Ty France, Sung-Mun Song, Luis Campusano and Miguel Andujar have been swinging the bat well for the Padres lately and you never want to meet Mason Miller and Adrian Morejon in the dark alley that is “trailing the Padres heading into the eighth inning” so there’s still plenty to worry about with this crew. With that being said, they’ve only won one series since sweeping the Braves (a home series against the Blue Jays) and they’ll be coming into Atlanta after having dropped a series against the woeful Royals. With that being said, the Padres did absolutely paddle Kansas City for nineteen runs on their way out so maybe they could be heating up just in time to face a foe that they appear to be really comfortable with as of late.
Monday, July 20, 7:15 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Tuesday, July 21, 7:15 p.m. ET (BravesVision, Gray TV)
Wednesday, July 22, 7:15 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Thursday, July 23, 12:15 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
July 24-26: Baltimore Orioles
Current Record: 49-51 Projected Record: 80-82
Everybody knows that the Red Sox are currently on a serious heater, as they’ve won 13-straight games and have vaulted themselves back into the thick of the Postseason conversation. Did you know that coming into this week’s action, the Orioles have won seven straight? Indeed, the Orioles are pretty hot as well and they’re also probably cursing their luck that they started to heat up at exactly the same time as the Red Sox. As a result, the Orioles are still in fourth place and far behind both the Yankees and Rays in the AL East but at the same time, they’re also only two games out of a Wild Card spot. That’s all it takes in this current era of baseball to get into Postseason contention, folks.
Anyways, one of the two streaks will have to end soon as O’s will be facing the Red Sox this week. While the Red Sox have won 13 straight, the O’s have won 10 of their past 13 so it’s not like this’ll just be chalk for the Red Sox since they’re the hotter team. Tyler O’Neill has been swinging a red-hot bat during this stretch (which started on July 1), as he’s mashing at a .316/.381/.947 clip with a .540 wOBA and 258 wRC+ since July 1. Coby Mayo, Blaze Alexander and Taylor Ward have also been tearing it up at the plate during this stretch and then you have players like Jackson Holliday and Dylan Beavers providing plenty of production as well. Our “old friend” Pete Alonso has also been swinging the bat very nicely as of late, so that just adds to the list of concerns heading into this series.
As you can imagine for a team that’s been as hot as Baltimore has been, their pitching has also been excellent in recent times. The O’s will likely be starting Brandon Young, Trevor Rogers and Shane Baz during this series and that’s going to be a challenge since all three of those guys have been doing very well on the mound during this month. The top of Baltimore’s rotation has been keyed in and as I mentioned earlier, the pitching staff has really been locked in to the point where the O’s have had the third-best ERA- (66) and the fifth-best FIP- (89) since the start of July. The O’s could come into this weekend’s series having been humbled by the Red Sox or they could be the new hottest team in baseball — either way, the Braves will have to be on their toes and ready.
Friday, July 24 at 7:05 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Saturday, July 25 at 7:05 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Sunday, July 26 at 1:35 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
