Wild Card

The Atlanta Braves are currently seven games back and with only thirty six games left of the regular season, things don't look very optimistic, in fact they look very dismal.
People can talk all the want about the team not being good enough to compete with the Mets, but if we break down the team peace by peace, they look in good shape. A very different picture from their current record.

The rotation:Tim Hudson is beginning to throw like everyone knows he is capable, John Smoltz is, well, John Smoltz, and rookie southpaw Chuck James is beginning to look like a seasoned veteran on the mound, just ask Joe Maddon [Tampa Bay coach]! We're even getting some quality starts from the [win-] Vulture Oscar Villarreal. And with the starting rotation starting to go deeper in the game, the pressure on the bullpen should decrease soon.
The offense: Andruw Jones is continuing to be a huge bat in the lineup, Chipper Jones has come back with a bang (4HRs since his return from the DL, his last one gives him 350 HRs tied 3rd all time Switch hitters), Jeff Francouer is set for his first (of many) 30-100 season, Brian McCann, although a long shot for the batting average title, is Mr Clutch (batting around .500 for the season with 2-out RISP), Adam LaRoche has 13 HRs and a .325 average since the all star break and Edgar Renteria could be in line for the comeback player of the year. Put that all together and it looks very impressive, and a lot of fun to watch.
The Bullpen: has been slightly better of late especially the big guys Chad Paronta and Bob Wickman being consistent, and writing off Danys Baez's recent struggles to his appendix, they finally have seemed to have turned the corner on the year long torture known as the bullpen.

That all may be very encouraging if this were May, June or even July, but we're at the end of August and the fact still remains: the Braves are seven games out of the wild card with only thirty six games left, this seems a little too much, even for the Atlanta Braves. Don't write them off just yet, but if they come out of the three game series with Washington with anything less than a sweep, they can almost wave goodbye to their fourteen year playoff streak.