Well the Braves swept the Nationals in a four-game series, proving that they still aren’t quite a bottom-dweller this season, despite all the bad luck and the struggles. They’ve been fortunate that their win streak hasn’t hurt their lottery position very badly. While they have almost certainly lost any chance of getting the second best odds and are 3.0 games back of the third best odds, they maintain some separation between the teams “behind” them and remain with the fourth best odds. There is a fairly significant drop-off from the fourth best odds to the fifth, and certainly to the seventh, so that would be a good position to stay in for the rest of the season. Next up is the Tigers in Detroit, and then the Nationals and Pirates at home, so hopefully they don’t win so many as to pull themselves way down in lottery odds (though they could always win the lottery and make it a moot point). It is also worth mentioning that Drake Baldwin winning NL Rookie of the Year would likely be a bigger windfall for Atlanta’s draft capital than any lottery movement that is likely to happen between now and the rest of the season. Last year the Royals’ Prospect Promotion Incentive Pick (#28) was worth more than the difference between pick #1 and pick #5 in slot value.
Meanwhile, Hurston Waldrep had a very encouraging outing, bouncing back from an unlucky but also bad outing against the Astros, as he continues to look like a promising piece moving forward in the rotation.