Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today's games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Today's edition is brought to you by David Adler.
Two of the big dogs in the National League are going head-to-head starting tonight, and playoff seeding is at stake.
The Braves and Dodgers open up a huge three-game series in Atlanta (7:15 p.m. ET, TBS / MLB.TV). The big storyline of tonight's opener: the return of Tyler Glasnow for L.A. after 3 1/2 months on the injured list.
The two powerhouses are also fighting for a coveted first-round playoff bye. Right now the Brewers, with the best record in the Majors, hold the top seed in the NL playoff picture. But the Dodgers and Braves are right behind them. And only two of the three teams can earn that bye.
NL standings entering play today
- Brewers: 81-50
- Dodgers: 80-51 (1 game back of MIL)
- Braves: 76-55 (4 games back of LAD)
So we'll have our eyes on this one. Who wouldn't want to see superstar showdowns like Shohei Ohtani vs. Ronald Acuña Jr., and Freddie Freeman vs. Matt Olson?
We have a full preview of the Braves-Dodgers series here, but here are three things to watch for:
1) Season series up for grabs
The Braves took two of three games from the Dodgers when these teams met in L.A. in May -- and they didn't even have Acuña for that series.
So if the Braves win this week's series, they win the season series over the defending champs, which could pay off in October if playoff seeding comes down to tiebreakers. The Dodgers would have to sweep the series here to take the season series from Atlanta.
2) The Dodgers are the hotter team
Even though both teams have had rocky stretches recently, the Dodgers have bounced back to win six games in a row entering this series, albeit against the Rockies and Pirates, two teams not at the Braves' level.
But those Braves have also dropped seven of their last 10 games, and are currently trying to stave off the charging Phillies in the NL East. Hitters like Acuña (.150 batting average over his last 10 games) and Olson (.184 average) in particular are scuffling.
3) Yamamoto-Sale duel to end it
They're saving the best for last. In Thursday's series finale (7:15 p.m. ET, FS1 / MLB.TV) we get Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Chris Sale in a battle of Cy Young-caliber aces (non-Jacob Misiorowski division).
Sale, who got outdueled by Misiorowski in his last start, ranks second in the NL with a 2.20 ERA. Yamamoto ranks third with a 2.61 ERA. That ought to be a good one.
