Seven days. Four ballparks. Three Teams. Two full series. One long week of travel. That is what awaits the Atlanta Braves this week as they get set to embark on a road trip that’ll see them getting well acquainted with putting their phones in airplane mode. The good news about this road trip is that it’ll all take place in Central Division territory, as the Braves will be going to Minneapolis for three games, Chicago for a make-up game, Milwaukee for two games and then Williamsport, Pennsylvania on Sunday for the Little League Classic.
With that being said, that’s still a lot of travel to be doing in the span of seven days and we’ll see how well the Braves hold up for what’ll surely be a grueling week both physically and mentally. It’s time to take a look at what could be a very tough week ahead for the Braves.
August 17-19: Minnesota Twins
Current Record: 60-65 Projected Record (via FanGraphs): 79-83
To put in comparison the performance of the National League when compared to the American League in 2026, the Washington Nationals are 60-66 and currently have a 0.4 percent chance of making the Postseason (according to FanGraphs). The Minnesota Twins are 60-65 and yet they have a 21 percent chance of making the Postseason. There’s a decent shot that somewhere between 80 and 82 wins will be enough for a team to take the third and final Wild Card spot, which means that Minnesota isn’t simply playing out the string here. If they (or anybody else, really) can get hot then the Postseason picture could really shake up.
So yeah, I’m saying all of that to say that we shouldn’t expect the Twins to simply roll over during this series. That especially won’t be the case since Byron Buxton is currently health and will be playing during this series after his most recent IL stint ended on August 13. Buxton did pick up a double during the Field of Dreams Game but outside of that, Philadelphia kept him quiet and it would be nice to see the Braves continue to keep him quiet going forward. Still, the Braves will also have to worry about making sure that Ryan Jeffers doesn’t have an outsized impact on the series as well, since he’s been having a very good season at the plate so far and could be dangerous, himself. Trevor Larnach, Kody Clemons, Royce Lewis and Luke Keaschall will also be names to watch as this series unfolds.
As far as the pitching matchups go, this should be manageable for the Braves. Bailey Ober has been pretty average so far this season and he hasn’t exactly been in shutdown mode since the All-Star break, as he’s produced an ERA of 5.27 and a FIP of 4.47 over his past five starts since the second half began. Zebby Matthews’ season-long ERA is 5.34 (5.05 FIP) and he’s currently in a bit of a rough patch where he gave up six runs (three earned) against the Brewers on August 7 and then the Orioles tagged him for four runs in five innings in his most recent start. Taj Bradley is currently Minnesota’s best healthy starter since Joe Ryan is currently on the IL and that could prove to be tough. Chris Sale will be starting opposite Bradley in that one, so that could potentially be another pitchers’ duel for Sale to navigate once again.
On paper, the Braves should be looking forward to taking care of business but at the same time, we all know that the game’s not played on paper or a spreadsheet. Still, Atlanta’s got to make sure that they get something from this series since the road trip will only get zanier from here.
Monday, August 17 at 7:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Tuesday, August 18 at 7:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Wednesday, August 19 at 1:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
August 20: Chicago White Sox
Current Record: 65-58 Projected Record: 83-79
Remember when the Braves went into that absolute tailspin during the month of June? Well, they’re returning to the genesis of that tailspin as it’s time to make up the final game of that series against the Chicago White Sox. There won’t be an on-field reunion with Joey Bart since he unfortunately suffered a fracture in his left hand. This will be a chance for the Braves to get introduced to Munetaka Murakami, who has been a personal favorite of mine since his days playing with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Of course, we’re all rooting for the Braves to keep him quiet but he’ll certainly be arguably the most dangerous hitter for Atlanta to deal with in this one.
Miguel Vargas has been having a fantastic season, himself and he alongside Murakami have proved to be a very dangerous duo in Chicago’s lineup. Chase Meidroth has also been a handful for opposing teams to deal with, along with Tristaan Peters and Samuel Antonacci. Braden Montgomery is also here and hopefully he doesn’t continue to do damage against the Braves like he did once he broke into the big leagues and had a dream debut at Atlanta’s expense.
There could be a bit of a wild card when it comes to the starter for this game as far as the White Sox go, since Davis Martin’s injury and IL stint due to a blister has shaken up Chicago’s rotation a bit. If they still follow their current pattern then the starter for this game should be Anthony Kay (4.01 ERA, 96 ERA-, 4.79 FIP, 112 FIP-) or possibly Jose Urquidy. Either way, the Braves should avoid Sean Burke and there likely won’t be a reunion with old friend Sean Newcomb, so the pitching matchup could be something manageable for Atlanta. Still, the Braves are going to have to be on their toes for this quick layover game in Chicago.
Thursday, August 20 at 2:10 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
August 21-23: Milwaukee Brewers
Current Record: 76-48 Projected Record: 96-66
Speaking of that June swoon for the Braves, they figured out a way to break out of that slump for at least a weekend when they managed to defend home turf in a three-game series win over the current best team in baseball. That alone is reason enough to believe that the Braves have what it takes to repeat the task and maybe take another series off of Milwaukee in the return leg of the matchup.
With that being said, the Brewers are coming into this week flying high after they went into Dodger Stadium and essentially asserted themselves as the current top dogs in the NL after taking three out of four from Los Angeles on the road. Granted, the Dodgers have been in an extended swoon of their own but that takes nothing away from the fact that this essentially confirmed that the Brewers are where they’re at in the standings for a very good reason.
That reason includes Jacob Misiorowski, who the Braves will likely have to deal with once again during this series. Again, he’s human and the Braves proved that when they managed to hang an L on Milwaukee while he was on the mound against them back in Cobb County. He’s still a great pitcher but we haven’t quite seen him reach the heights lately that he did right before facing the Braves, which is when he dominated the Phillies in a one-hit, complete game shutout with 15 strikeouts. Still, I can’t say that anybody particularly looks forward to facing The Miz right now and he’s coming off of a start in Los Angeles where he went six innings and only gave up one run, so he’s clearly still extremely tough to deal with.
Milwaukee will also be looking forward to getting some good injury news this week, as Sal Frelick could be back and Brice Turang should be getting over some knee pain that’s kept him day-to-day recently. Turang in particular has been having a fantastic season so far (Frelick, not so much) and he’s been leading the way with Jake Bauers, Jackson Chourio, Garrett Mitchell and Andrew Vaughn not too far behind in terms of plate production. Milwaukee’s lineup hasn’t really been all that dominant since they last saw the Braves but their pitching staff has been absolutely nails since then. The Brewers as a staff are sitting on an 86 ERA- (3.56 ERA) and an 88 FIP- (3.72 FIP) since they got done with the Braves and that seems like an easy indicator that runs could be coming at a premium during this series.
Boy, ESPN really lucked out by getting these two for the Little League Classic, right?
Friday, August 21 at 4:10 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Saturday, August 22 at 2:10 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Sunday, August 23 at 7:10 p.m. ET (ESPN)