FanNation - The Republic of Sport

The Atlanta Braves better take notice. There are only so many more games left in the baseball season. And they have some work to do. 

The NL East race is starting to get very interesting, with the Phillies and Braves making a run towards the first place New York Mets.

As for the Braves, they have a very important three days coming up. Why you ask? Because the Braves host Barry and the Giants.

The Giants come in losing 5 of their last 6 games, with four of those losses coming to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the other to the Washington Nationals. Like the Giants, the Pirates and Nationals are at the bottom of their respective divisions.

So this is a series that the Braves must sweep if they want to make a serious run at the Mets for the NL East crown. The Mets just had a lackluster series against the Marlins, dropping two of the three. However, the Mets now get a series in Pittsburgh, and the Phillies get a series in Washington. It seems this will be a test for all three of these teams, to see if they can beat the worst teams in the National League.

While I don't expect all three teams to come out of their series with sweeps, the Braves are the ones that need it most. Their series is at home, and the Giants aren't playing good baseball at all right now. Atlanta has to take advantage of that, and deliver this week. Because once the series with San Fran is over, the Braves welcome the Arizona Diamondbacks, the hottest team in the NL right now. So if you're going to make up ground, you better do it in these next three games.

Smoltz, Hudson, and James are the probably starters for this upcoming series, which is all the more reason to make this a sweep. Because if you don't, here's the probably starters for the first game against the D'Backs:

Brandon Webb (hottest pitcher in baseball) vs. Buddy Carlyle (has been pitching decent, but this is a tough matchup)

I like the Braves chances much more against the Giants staff than the D'Backs staff.

To put it simply, this is one of the most important series of the year for Atlanta. You can't rely on losses from the Mets or the Phillies, because of their opponents, so you must take care of business the next three days. Dropping this series could be a fatal blow to Atlanta's playoff chances this season.

Let me know what you think. Do the Braves sweep this series? And do the Mets or Phillies slip up and fall?