The defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves have won 11 in a row and enter Monday 5 ½ games behind the New York Mets in the National League East, having shaved five games off their deficit in less than two weeks.
Atlanta has a 2.47 ERA during the 11-game stretch, scoring 74 runs with 22 home runs. Ronald Acuña Jr., Adam Duvall and Austin Riley each had four home runs, while starter Kyle Wright won three of the 11 games.
The Mets went 5-5 on a West Coast trip against the Dodgers, Padres and Angels, and now return home for series against the Brewers, who have lost 10 of 12. Atlanta heads to Washington (23-39) and Chicago (23-36) this week.
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Here’s how USA TODAY Sports’ eight-person panel voted this week:
Rank (movement from last week)
1. New York Yankees (–)
2. New York Mets (+1)
- Four-game set vs. Marlins will be teams’ first meeting of 2022.
3. Los Angeles Dodgers (-1)
4. San Diego Padres (+1)
- Chance to take the NL West lead this week with four vs. Cubs, three vs. Rockies.
5. Houston Astros (-1)
- Yordan Alvarez hit .500 (19-for-38) with 3 homers and 13 RBI in his first 10 games of June.
6. Toronto Blue Jays (+1)
- Alejandro Kirk’s last 22 games: .391 average, .381 OPS, .667 slugging.
7. Atlanta Braves (+5)
- 11-game winning streak gets the Braves right back into the NL East race.
8. Tampa Bay Rays (+1)
- Wander Franco heads to the injured list…
