Since the Braves are not going to win the NL East, I will update the NL Wildcard standings daily including a magic number for the Braves to clinch. Remember that the top 2 teams play in the wildcard game with the team with the better record getting home field advantage in the one-game playoff.

Atlanta

76-60 .559 -- MAGIC NUMBER is 23!

St. Louis

74-62 .544 -- MAGIC NUMBER is 25!

LA Dodgers

73-64 .533 1.5

Pittsburgh

71-64 .526 2.5

Here are the schedules for the next week for the 4 teams in contention:

Atlanta - 2 games against Colorado, 3 at the Mets and 3 against Milwaukee - If all goes well, the Braves should go 5-3 in these 8 games.

St. Louis - 1 game against the Mets, 3 against Milwaukee and 3 at San Diego - If all goes well, the Cardinals should go 5-2 in these 7 games.

LA Dodgers - 1 game against San Diego, 3 at San Francisco and 2 at Arizona - If all goes well, the Dodgers should go 4-2 in these 6 games.

Pittsburgh - 1 game vs. Houston, 3 vs. the Cubs and 3 at Cincinnati - If all goes well, the Pirates should go 5-2.

Next week I'll look at how the team did vs. how I expected them to do...and let's hope the magic number comes down a bit. Go Braves!

Andy