The stakes are sky high as Phillies host Braves this weekend

The Braves are back up for the Phillies this weekend, this time at Citizens Bank Park and in a scenario where they can either all but wrap up the NL East race, or suddenly have their rivals right behind them in the standings after the four-game set. 

Just over a week ago, the Phillies were down in Atlanta and dropped two of three. It was a low-scoring series with each club's best pitchers lined up, and each game was decided by no more than two runs, but still, it extended the Phillies struggles which have lingered ever since they came back from the All-Star break — while keeping a Braves club that had been crushed by major injuries to their stars (Spencer Strider, Ronald Acuña Jr., and Austin Riley) alive. 

The Phillies have won consecutive series since thanks to an offensive outburst over the Royals in Kansas City and then a return home to gut out two big wins over the Astros before another Taijuan Walker meltdown, but the Braves have also held the gap with a series win over the Nationals and then a three-game sweep of the Twins. 

Entering Thursday's opener in South Philly, the Phillies are leading the NL East at 78-55. The Braves are five games back of them at 73-60. 

There's just over a month left in the season, the postseason chase is really starting to ramp up, and the division could very well be on the line. 

These next few days are going to be huge – and maybe not for the faint of heart either.

"They're important, obviously," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said of the four games on deck. "I don't know how much more important, but I always say that you got to win at home and you got to win in your division. 

"If you want to win a division title, you got to win inside your division and at home. So it's a big series."

And the Phillies' last shot to gain a direct advantage over their fiercest rival of the past few years. 

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Prior to last week, the Phillies got the Braves for their season-opening set back in late March and then saw them again in early July. Atlanta took two out of three in those series as well and hold a 6-3 record overall against the Phils heading into this one, which will be the last between the two for the 2024 season. 

Up until mid-July, the Phillies did not struggle all that much – and they're still up there in the running for baseball's best record despite their unevenness of late – but the Braves, regular season-wise at least, have been an opponent that they have not quite been able to crack yet. 

They have one more shot before October. 

"We're playing better," shortstop Trea Turner said after the Astros series wrapped up on Wednesday. "Win the last two series against two really good teams, so playing with a little bit better type of stuff...

"It's starting to get down to that final month when you start looking at the scoreboard a little bit, and you gotta take care of business. So I would say it's a big series, and we're ready for it."

They'll definitely have their best arms lined up for it. 

Thomson swapped Taijuan Walker's and Cristopher Sánchez's turns in the rotation earlier this week so that Walker would pitch the finale against Houston on Wednesday instead of the opener on Thursday against the Braves. 

Walker, who's been struggling immensely since returning from the Injured List (and really even before that), got shelled again. But he did make it through six innings while Michael Mercado, Max Lazar, and Weston Wilson got the Phils through the last three, which rested the bullpen and lined the Phils' starters up to face the Braves 4-1 in the rotation.

Here's a look at the series' probables:

It's probably the best the Phillies could have set themselves up going in. Now everyone just needs to have their best stuff all season, and everything else they've got.

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