Mark WiedmerWhen you play 162 regular-season Major League Baseball games, it’s tough to circle a dozen or so that seem more important than the others.
But starting with Monday night’s 8:05 EDT first pitch at Wrigley Field, this four-game series the Atlanta Braves are about to begin against the Chicago Cubs just might come to define either who the Braves are or who they must become to make a postseason run.
It’s not just that Atlanta will start Julio Teheran against the Cubs’ pitbull lefty Jon Lester in the opener. Or that 11 of the 13 games the Braves have won in their past 16 have come against teams that currently have losing records. Or that those other two victories have come against the Philadelphia Phillies, who have lost seven straight.
All those facts should make every member of Braves Nation curious to see what their baseball heroes can do against the second-highest payroll in the majors and one of the sport’s four or five best managers, Joe Maddon.
Beyond that, when Atlanta’s best player, first baseman Freddie Freeman, says as he did after Saturday’s electric 13-9 win at Washington, “It just doesn’t matter. What inning it is, what score it is, we’re relentless,” well, how can anyone in Braves Country resist watching what happens next?