On The Horizon: Cubs vs. Braves series preview

Matt Olson is playing like the best first baseman (and one of the best players, overall) in baseball at the moment, Drake Baldwin is starting to establish himself as an elite-hitting catcher, Michael Harris II is looking more like the star-caliber player he was during the second half of 2025 instead of the genuinely-awful player he was during the first half of that season and Ozzie Albies is on track for a big-time bounce-back season. Mauricio Dubón has been surprisingly good at the plate as well and they’ve been getting timely hitting from the bench. Walt Weiss has been pushing all the right buttons for most of this squad and some of his pinch hitting/running choices have paid off in spades.

Pitching-wise, Chris Sale has continued to be consistently good but Bryce Elder has surprisingly been the top guy in the rotation so far. Spencer Strider is back and he looked great during his outing against the Dodgers, so he may be back as well. The questions surrounding the rotation have persisted and that could be Atlanta’s downfall in this series considering that they’ve been going on a series-by-series revolving door of starting pitcher in the back end of their rotation but so far they’ve been relying on Martín Pérez and JR Ritchie to deliver as well. The bullpen has been solid and again, Walt Weiss is managing like someone who understands what high-leverage and low-leverage is.

The fact that they’ve done all of this with Austin Riley mostly struggling, Ronald Acuña Jr. looking like a normal human being instead of a supernova, Sean Murphy having only played a handful of games and Ha-Seong Kim having played no games is really impressive in my view. I’d say that we haven’t seen this team’s ceiling quite yet, which is exciting for us Braves fans. The Cubs are going to be tough, though and I am really looking forward to seeing how this series shakes out. It should be a fun one!

Fun facts

The Cubs’ next loss to the Braves will be their 900th since 1901, the first season of the Modern Era.

If it comes in this series, it will be their 600th on the road vs. the Braves since 1876, when both were charter members of the new National League. The Cubs have lost exactly 600 on the road against the Phillies.

They have won 556 when visiting the Braves. They are 700-466 at home, for a total record of 1,256-1,065-18. That .541 winning percentage is the Cubs’ second highest against a current NL opponent. They are .544 (285-239) vs. the Padres, who began play in 1969.

Last year, the Cubs won two of three at Atlanta. It was their first series win there since 2018. In 2019-24, they were 3-13.

(Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

Probable pitching matchups

Tuesday: Colin Rea, RHP (4-1, 4.03 ERA, 1.368 WHIP, 3.68 FIP) vs. Grant Holmes, RHP (2-1, 4.34 ERA, 1.313 WHIP, 5.03 FIP)

Wednesday: Shōta Imanaga, LHP (4-2, 2.28 ERA, 0.930 WHIP, 2.81 FIP) vs. JR Ritchie, RHP (1-0, 3.63 ERA, 1.500 WHIP, 6.88 FIP)

Thursday: Ben Brown, RHP (1-1, 1.82 ERA, 0.910 WHIP, 2.66 FIP) vs. Chris Sale, LHP (6-2, 2.20 ERA, 0.878 WHIP, 3.48 FIP)

Times & TV channels

Tuesday: 6:15 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network, TBS (outside the Cubs and Braves market territories)

Wednesday: 6:15 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network

Thursday: 6:15 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network, Peacock (streaming, Braves broadcast, outside the Cubs and Braves market territories)

Prediction

This series will be a good test for the Cubs, as they come in one game behind Atlanta for the best record in the NL.

The Cubs appear to have the advantage re: pitching matchups in two of these three, so I’m picking that, even though the Cubs have not done well at Truist Park historically (10-15 all-time there, though as noted by John, they did win two of three in Atlanta last year).

Also, the Cubs are 21-9 in games started by RHP and just 6-5 vs. games started by LHP, even though overall their OPS vs. LHP (.804) is better than their OPS vs. RHP (.746).

Up next

The Cubs return to Chicago and go to the South Side for a three-game series against the White Sox beginning Friday evening.