Can Atlanta Braves or Chicago Cubs compete with Dodgers in the NL?

With the Los Angeles Dodgers running away from the competition in the National League, the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs battle for second place.

The Chicago Cubs got off to a rough start this season and the Atlanta Braves took advantage as they were able to sweep them at SunTrust in their second series of the year.

Since that 2-7 start to the season, the Cubs have gone 40-28 and are stop the highly competitive NL Central.

Atlanta didn’t exactly get out to a great start either, but they’ve been on fire since Ronald Acuna Jr. returned to the top of the lineup and Austin Riley was called up.

As we said at the top, the Dodgers are by far the best team in the National League. But if anyone is going to challenge them for NL supremacy, it could be the Braves and Cubs who are currently sitting atop the two other NL divisions.

And while there is still a lot of baseball to be played, if the season ended today the Cubs and Braves would play in the NLDS.

But this four-game series could tell us a lot about which team is ready to contend with the Dodgers in the NL.

Game 1 – Julio Teheran vs. Jon Lester

A couple of veterans will matchup on Monday night with Julio Teheran facing Jon Lester.

Lester has given up 13 runs in his last three outings, so hopefully, the Atlanta Braves are catching the lefty at the right time.

But Teheran is coming off his worst outing of the season giving up 6 runs in 4 innings against the Mets. That was after having allowed 1 run or fewer in eight straight starts.

Outside of Kyle Schwarber (4-for-9), nobody in the Cubs lineup has had much success against Julio.

Ozzie Albies is 5-for-5 against Lester, and the lefties in the Atlanta Braves lineup have had good success against him. And lefties actually have a higher batting average against Lester this season.

It will be interesting to see if Brian Snitker sends Brian McCann back out there as he’s 4-for-9 off Lester.