The Week Ahead for Atlanta: An early showdown looms nearby

May 4-6: Seattle Mariners

***Current Record:** 16-19 **Projected Record (via FanGraphs):** 85-77* Seattle’s rotation has been pretty solid so far and the Braves will have to deal with three of the better hurlers for Seattle so far. It’ll all get started against Logan Gilbert on Monday. While Gilbert hasn’t been super imposing so far, he’s done a good job of avoiding walks and generating whiffs and chases so the plate discipline for Atlanta will have to be on point if they want to be effective against him. George Kirby will get the ball on Tuesday and that’ll likely be tough sledding for the Braves since his underlying metrics suggest that he’s been a lot better than his ERA (4.03 with an ERA- of 102) and FIP (3.33 with a FIP- of 82) suggest. He’s been even better than Gilbert when it comes to inducing chase and just as good in every other category (if not a bit better) as well. Bryan Woo will start on Thursday and that does seem like Atlanta’s best chance to pick up a win (and hopefully a series win if the first two games go well). Woo has also done a good job of limiting walks but he hasn’t been great doing much else, so there’s that. Meanwhile, Bryce Elder, Grant Holmes and JR Ritchie will have to contend with a Mariners lineup that has hit their way into a Top-10 offense according to wRC+. Heading into Sunday’s action, they had produced a team wRC+ of 103 with a team slash line of .232/.320/.382 with a .317 wOBA. The good news is that the Braves clear the Mariners in every offensive category so far (aside from walk rate) so the Braves could do well enough to out-slug yet another opponent. Still, Randy Arozarena figures to be a problem and guys like Cole Young, Dominic Canzone and Luke Raley have to be taken seriously as well. Plus, there’s the looming specter of either Julio Rodríguez taking a game over or Cal Raleigh waking up from his current slumber at any given moment as well. On top of that, Brendan Donovan could be activated from the IL in time for this series as well, so there’s certainly a lot to keep an eye on when it comes to threats coming from the Mariners. *Monday, May 4 at 9:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision) Tuesday, May 5 at 9:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision, Gray TV) Wednesday, May 6 at 4:10 p.m. ET (BravesVision)*

May 8-10: Los Angeles Dodgers

***Current Record:** 21-13 **Projected Record:** 98-64* Assuming the Braves don’t get swept and end up limping into Dodger Stadium, the Braves will enter this series with fewer losses than their hosts in Los Angeles. Heading into this season, you probably would’ve figured that that meant either one or both teams had been disappointing to start out, but nope! The Dodgers are in first place and as of right now they’re either at or near the top of the leaderboards in any given statistic that you can think of. This is the type of start you’d expect for a team that is this loaded with talent and experience so that’s really another indicator of just how good of a start that the Braves are on, themselves. The “good” news is that the Braves won’t have to deal with Shohei Ohtani as a pitcher, at least. He’s currently scheduled to start on Tuesday against the Astros and he’s usually gone up to a week in between starts so they won’t have to figure out a way to wrangle him. Still, it’s likely that they’ll have to deal with 2026 World Series hero Yoshinobu Yamamoto and an impressive 25-year-old hurler in the form of Justin Wrobleski. If we’re going on form then Emmet Sheehan should get the ball for Los Angeles in this series. If not then it’s also possible that Roki Sasaki could get a start, though I’m sure that the Dodgers would much rather see Sheehan take a crack at keeping Atlanta’s lineup quiet. When it comes to this Dodgers lineup, well, it’s the same ol’ stuff. They’re nine-deep and the easy outs will be few and far in between with this crew. With that being said, they did suffer through a bit of a power drought as the team’s ability to hit the long ball escaped them for a bit. Hopefully, that trend continues through this week once the Braves get a hold of them. They also had to recently suffer through the ignominy of a four-game losing streak. In typical Dodgers fashion, though, even the losing streak seemed to go LA’s way because everybody else in the division had just as long of a losing streak or an even longer one so the streak didn’t even hurt them in the NL West. That’s just how it seems to go for this team! With that being said, you know this team isn’t going to stay down for long. Ohtani is just too good at the plate and he’s surrounded by guys like Max Muncy, Andy Pages, Hyeseong Kim, Miguel Rojas and Freddie Freeman. Then they’ve got guys like Dalton Rushing, Alex Call, Teoscar Hernández and Will Smith who can deliver when called upon as well. The fact that the offense is still clicking this well without Mookie Betts is a testament to how deep and talented this crew is. The Braves are going to have their work cut out for them and it’ll truly be an auspicious occasion if Atlanta’s streak of not losing a series is still on the line once they get to Dodger Stadium. I’m personally very excited to see how this series goes and hopefully the Braves will have taken care of business in Seattle beforehand in order to give this early-season showdown the level of hype that it deserves. Let’s see what happens! *Friday, May 8 at 10:10 p.m. ET (BravesVision) Saturday, May 9 at 9:10 p.m. ET (BravesVision) Sunday, May 10 at 4:10 p.m. ET (BravesVision, Gray TV)*