The Week Ahead for Atlanta: Another showdown looms large for the Braves

May 12-14: Chicago Cubs

***Current Record:** 27-14 **Projected Record** **(via FanGraphs):** 90-72* Thank goodness for today being an off day, since that means that Chris Sale will be able to pitch in the series finale against the Cubs on regular rest. That’ll be huge for the Braves considering that Grant Holmes, JR Ritchie and the rest of Atlanta’s pitching staff is going to have a serious test on their hands with this Cubs lineup. The good news is that we now know that they can indeed be stopped, as Chicago will be entering this game having dropped a series on the road against the Rangers where they got shut out twice in the final two games. That only came after the Cubs rattled off their second 10-game winning streak of the season so far. It could just be that the Cubs are monsters at Wrigley Field while being somewhat normal away from home but up until their power outage in Arlington, the Cubs did have one of the best team wRC+ marks on the road. Obviously, we’re all hoping that the Braves can keep the Cubs mired in this current mini-slump that they’re on but it’ll still be a very tough task for this lineup to keep guys like Nico Hoener, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Pete Crow-Armstrong and old friend Dansby Swanson quiet over the course of this series. Hopefully these guys continue to slumber through their visit to Cobb County.

May 15-17: Boston Red Sox

***Current Record:** 17-23 **Projected Record:** 79-83* Speaking of plenty of folks being clad in the other team’s colors, we’ll probably see that as well once the Red Sox come to town. They won’t be cheering for a team with a winning record once they do arrive, as Boston is currently stuck at the bottom of the AL East and looking to find some sort of way to get things going in the right direction. The good news for Boston is that they are very close to Toronto and Baltimore in the standings, so they could very well be in third place by the time they make it to Atlanta. The bad news for them is that they’re already way behind both the Yankees and the Rays who are currently duking it out at the top of the AL East, so they’ve got a long road to go before they become relevant in the division again this season. Pitching-wise, the Red Sox have actually been performing at around the same level as the Cubs have — at least according to ERA- and FIP-. Ranger Suarez has been very solid for them so far and they’ve also gotten encouraging results from Payton Tolle and Connelly Early to start the season so far. Arodlis Chapman has once again continued to defy Father Time with his production out of the ‘pen as well, so the Braves will be doing well to make sure that they don’t have to see him too much during this series. This is a perfectly fine pitching staff that’ll be coming to town this weekend and while the Braves may be avoiding Suarez, whoever Boston puts out there won’t be a pushover.