Why The Chicago Must Sweep The Braves This Week

Atlanta is now ten games below .500 and losers in six of their last ten games. This is the type of opponent that Chicago must earn the sweep against to gain ground in the division race or even pad their Wild Card lead.

Milwaukee are facing the tougher opponent in the NL East leaders, Philadelphia. The Brewers have now lost two in a row and have the same record as the Braves in their last ten games (4-6).

This series serves as a perfect stage for the Cubs to cut away at the 5.5 game deficit. The Brewers have no more games left against the 2016 World Series champions. Thus, every game on Chicago's schedule matters from here on out.

The sweep by the San Francisco Giants on the road hurt the Cubs. Their offense struggled as they failed to score more than three runs in any game of the series. That prevented Chicago from catching up in their climb to catch up to Milwaukee.

On Tuesday, Shota Imanaga (8-6) takes the mound for the Cubs against the Braves' Joey Wentz (5-4). Statistically, the left-handed hurler for Chicago is the better pitcher of the two.

Imanaga has pitched just over 38 innings more than Wentz, yet the Kitakyushu, Japan native has walked 14 less batters. That type of ball control will benefit the Cubs as Chicago has thrown the fewest amount of walks so far this season (360). The Braves have drawn the third-highest total in the league as they are three away from clearing 500.

Cade Horton (9-4) takes the mound on Wednesday in the series finale against the Braves. Chicago will face Atlanta's Bryce Elder (5-9). The 24-year-old starter for the Cubs went 6-1 in August and is 3-1 at home this season.

Of the nine Game 2s in all of Chicago's series played in August, the Cubs won six of those, including six of their last seven. If that trend continues for Chicago and if Milwaukee were to lose, then the distance between first and second in the NL Central could shrink just a bit. A sweep of the Braves by the Cubs could make it shrink even more.