By
Travis Riechers on Saturday, September 28
th 2013
If the playoffs started today the Atlanta Braves would hold the tiebreaker for the best record in the National League over the St. Louis Cardinals. This would mean that they would play the winner of the Pittsburgh Pirates vs Cincinnati Reds games. Both of the matchups would be pretty much the same, neither one being hard than the other.
If they played the Pittsburgh Pirates they would be looking at a first game matchup with Francisco Liriano. Liriano is 16-8 with a 3.02 ERA in 2013. He has had the strikeout pitch working for him all year as he has struck out 163 men over 161 innings. As for the Braves you will likely see Kris Medlen taking the ball in game one. He has pitched very well over his past four starts, receiving three wins. His ERA has been remarkable over that time period at a mark of 1.29. He is starting to get back into his old 2012 form and will be the number one starter for an Atlanta ballclub with a whole lot to prove.
Game two will likely feature Gerrit Cole the 23 year-old in his first career playoff start. He has had a very solid rookie year with an ERA of 3.22 with a record of 10-7. In his last start he punched out his 100th man of the year. The Braves will have Mike Minor take the bump in the second game of this series. Minor has had a rough patch over the past month and will look to get back on track. In September he is 0-3 with a 4.15 ERA. He has surrendered five home runs over these starts and allowed an opponent batting average of .255.
The Braves and Pirates squared off in seven regular season games with the Braves beating the Pirates four games to three. The Pirates took the first three of four in the ‘Burg but the Braves went and swept them in Atlanta in June.
If the Cincinnati Reds beat the Pirates in the pivotal one game play-in game you will see Mat Latos. He is having a great season with a 3.17 ERA and 14 wins to go along with seven losses. Other starting pitchers that the Reds could feature would be Johnny Cueto that is if he doesn’t pitch in the play-in game. They have other great pitching with Bronson Arroyo and Homer Bailey.
The most intriguing matchup of all is the closers for each side. On one end you have a six foot, four Aroldis Chapman who can top 100 miles per hour nearly every pitch. On the flip side the Braves have five foot, eleven inch Craig Kimbrel. Kimbrel does not have the speed that Chapman has but he can still reach 99 on occasion. The negative on Chapman is control and the negative for Kimbrel is still up for debate.
The Braves took the regular season series against the Reds taking four of seven, just like the Pirates. For all of this to work out the Braves need to hold off the Philadelphia Phillies in the next three games, while the Cardinals will look to take down the Cubs to take the NL’s best record. If the Cardinals take the home-field advantage the Braves would then play the Los Angeles Dodgers.