The Atlanta Braves have been baseball’s best team for the past four months. They were the first to reach 90 wins and are almost a cinch to record one of the organization’s best winning seasons ever.

They feature the Most Valuable Player front-runner in Ronald Acuna Jr. They sport the current home run and RBI leader in Matt Olson. Their whole starting lineup is comprised of players with a chance to hit a homer any time they step to the plate, as evidenced by their league-leading 265 home run total heading into Thursday’s game with the St. Louis Cardinals.

They are a favorite to win their second World Series championship in three years. Noticed how I said ‘a’ and not ‘the.’

Even following an impressive road trip last weekend that included three wins in four games against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Braves are showing vulnerability in their starting pitching that could lead to another early exit from the playoffs … like last year.

Outside of Max Fried (who’s still only 11 starts into his season), Bryce Elder (two years starting) and Charlie Morton (who will be 40 in November) the Braves’ starting rotation is cause for concern. Spencer Strider’s Cy Young case was dealt a major blow Wednesday night when he was battered by the St. Louis Cardinals. He allowed six hits and six runs in 2.2 innings with three walks and five strikeouts. Strider’s strikeout totals continue to soar this year but so has his ERA. It currently sits at 3.83.

The Braves were also dealt a severe blow this week with Mike Soroka being shut down for the remainder of the season with forearm inflammation, which followed a short outing on Tuesday when he was smacked around for four hits, two homers and five runs against the Cardinals. He has the pitching stuff, but has been beset by one injury after another.

On the bright side, Fried’s returned from injury and has shown signs he can become the team’s ace again. He shut down the Dodgers last Friday with seven innings of three-hit baseball. He’s allowed seven earned runs in his last 24.2 innings with the Braves winning three of his four starts. If he was still sidelined, though, it would be full on panic mode for the Braves.

Elder is 11-4 with a 3.42 ERA, but can the Braves really rely on him in crunch time in the postseason? Thank goodness Morton continues to defy Father Time but for how long?

As good as the Braves offense has been this year, it will face considerably better pitching from teams like the Phillies, Brewers and Dodgers in the postseason. The Braves will have to win a pitcher’s duel at some point. But can they? I’m not sure about that.