First, let’s get this out of the way: I hate the Giants. Sweep them into the ocean (preferably a deep-sea trench), please. Okay, now back to your regularly scheduled preview.
The Braves find themselves in a pretty nice position in early May. They’re carrying a five-game winning streak and have just swept their way into first place by knocking off the formerly-division-leading Mets in New York. They have the league’s best offense, and over the last week, a top-10 pitching staff as well. They have the league’s fourth-best record, the league’s best run differential, and their Baseball-Reference Simple Rating System (SRS) score is nearly a run per game better than the number two team.