Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves to Join Rare Baseball History When They Meet on Friday
The Cincinnati Reds have become baseball's darling team. They are filled with young, exciting prospects and have won 11 straight games to vault themselves into the lead into the National League Central.
But the Reds will get a massive test on Friday night when they host the Atlanta Braves, a team that many think can win the World Series this year. Atlanta is 48-26, winners of eight straight games of their own, and has the best record in the National League.
The matchup between these two streaking franchises will join some rare baseball history, per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:
on Fri, the Reds + Braves face off, having won 11 & 8 straight games, respectively
it’s the 7th time in MLB history that 2 teams will open a series BOTH entering on 8+ game win streaks, joining:
8/23/2021 ATL W9, NYY W9
6/30/1975 OAK W8, CHW W8
8/18/1906 NYG W8, CHC W10
9/7/1901 PIT W10, PHI W9
10/14/1889 Reds W8, St. Louis Browns W11
9/13/1884 St. Louis Maroons W12, Washington Nationals W11
Given that this only happened twice since 1906 shows you how rare it is to have a matchup of teams that are this locked in.
The Reds will send Luke Weaver to mound (1-2, 6.47 ERA) while the Braves will counter with rookie AJ Smith-Shawver (1-0, 2.03 ERA).
First pitch from Cincinnati is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. ET. The series continues on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. ET, and Sunday at 1:40 p.m. ET.
It should be one of the premiere matchups in baseball around this weekend, so we'll see who can take control.
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