ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals will open

with their surprise 2018 aces as they begin an important three-game series for both teams on Monday night.Miles Mikolas (15-4 http://www.padresfanproshop.com/authentic-dave-winfield-jersey , 2.99 ERA) will start for the visiting Cardinals, with fellow right-hander Mike Foltynewicz (11-9, 2.66) getting the call for the National League East-leading Braves at SunTrust Park.Although the Braves (83-66) lost two of three weekend games to the Washington Nationals to open their final 10-game homestand of the season, they still lead the Philadelphia Phillies by 6 1/2 games and the Nationals by 7 1/2 with two weeks to play.Article continues below ...The Cardinals (82-68) trail the first-place Chicago Cubs by 5 1/2 games in the NL Central but are tied for the last wild-card spot after salvaging the finale of a four-game home series with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday night.Atlanta, which has a magic number of eight to win the NL East, swept a three-game series in St. Louis on June 29-July 1, outscoring the Cardinals 22-10.That was before Mike Shildt replaced Mike Matheny as St. Louis manager, though, and the Braves also have played much better on the road than at home all season.The Braves have a 45-30 road record — best in the NL — but are just 38-36 at home after 12 losses in their past 16 games in Atlanta.The Cardinals have the third-best road record at 42-33 and are 35-22 overall since Shildt took over July 15.Foltynewicz comes into the St. Louis series off a complete-game victory at San Francisco in his most recent start. The Braves need a quality outing after Julio Teheran lasted just four innings and Sean Newcomb three in losses to the Nationals that followed a six-game winning streak.“It was the best I’ve felt all season Rollie Fingers Jersey ,” Foltynewicz said after allowing a run and six hits against the Giants while striking out seven and walking just one. “It was a big win for us. That whole trip was huge.”Now Foltynewicz needs a comparable follow-up back in Atlanta.“I’m learning how to pitch in September,” said Foltynewicz, who made the All-Star Game for the first time this year. “When you’re in the middle of a playoff race, every inning counts so much.”Pitching in September pressure with the Cardinals is new as well for Mikolas, who spent the last three seasons in Japan.Mikolas, though, allowed just one run in seven innings of his most recent start to beat Pittsburgh and become the first pitcher to win as many as 15 games in his first season with St. Louis since Mark Mulder in 2003.“This is crunch time,” Mikolas said. “This is time to kind of dig deep… leave it all out there and use everything you’ve got.”Mikolas took the loss against the Braves in the opener of the series at St. Louis but deserved a better fate. He allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings.Foltynewicz won the final game of the series, allowing just one hit in five scoreless innings while striking out nine and walking three.Foltynewicz http://www.padresfanproshop.com/authentic-randy-jones-jersey , who has 186 strikeouts in 166 innings this season, hadn’t fared well against the Cardinals before this season, though. He is 2-2 with a 7.13 ERA lifetime, working just 17 2/3 innings in four career starts. NEW YORK — Maybe the third time will be the charm for Jacob deGrom. And maybe the third time will be the charm for the Miami Marlins, though facing deGrom probably isn’t anybody’s idea of a charmed existence in 2018.DeGrom will once again hope the weather cooperates Tuesday night, when he is scheduled to take the mound for the New York Mets against the Marlins in the pushed-back opener of a four-game series at Citi Field.Weather permitting, deGrom (8-8, 1.68 ERA) will resume making his case for the National League Cy Young Award when he opposes the Marlins’ Jose Urena (5-12, 4.41 ERA) in a battle of right-handers.Article continues below ...The teams were supposed to open their series Monday Johnny Manziel Jersey , but the game was postponed four hours before first pitch due to a steady rain that wasn’t expected to let up the rest of the night. The game will be made up as part of a single-gate doubleheader Wednesday at 4:10 p.m. ET.For deGrom, Monday marked the second straight day in which he had a start shelved. He was scheduled to start against the visiting Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday afternoon but was scratched due to a foreboding weather forecast. The Mets, who started rookie Corey Oswalt, ended up winning 6-4 in a game that went off without a hitch following a 27-minute rain delay prior to first pitch.The Mets scratched deGrom because they were confident the forecast for Monday would be much better. Alas …“From what we see at this point — which, I mean, it’s the weather, it’s hard to predict — it’s supposed to clear up in the evening,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said Sunday afternoon. “So, we thought when we made that decision http://www.padresfanproshop.com/authentic-wil-myers-jersey , we were thinking that we have a good chance to play (Monday) night.”And Monday marked the second straight postponement for the Marlins, who haven’t played since suffering a 5-1 loss to the host Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night. The series finale Sunday afternoon was postponed due to rain. The focus will be deGrom whenever the Mets (65-77) and Marlins (56-86) do finally play baseball. He enjoyed a record-breaking start in his most recent appearance Sept. 3, when he endured yet another hard-luck no-decision after allowing one run on two hits over six innings in the Mets’ 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.It was the 25th straight start in which deGrom allowed three runs or fewer, which tied the all-time record set by Leonard Cole of the Chicago Cubs in 1910, as well as his 20th straight quality start, which broke the Mets record set by Tom Seaver in 1973.DeGrom is in a three-way race for the Cy Young with the Washington Nationals’ Max Scherzer and the Philadelphia Phillies’ Aaron Nola. While Scherzer (17 wins) and Nola (16 wins) ranked first and second in the NL in victories entering Monday, deGrom’s ERA is more than half a run better than those of Nola (2.29) and Scherzer (2.33).However, having his start pushed back to Tuesday almost certainly means deGrom will finish with fewer starts than both Scherzer and Nola, who are on pace for 34 and 33 starts Rickey Henderson Jersey , respectively. DeGrom is on pace for 32 starts.Urena earned the win in his previous start Sept. 3, when he allowed one run over seven innings as the Marlins beat the Phillies, 3-1.DeGrom is 4-5 with a 3.68 ERA in 15 career starts against the Marlins. Urena is 3-5 with a 3.81 ERA in 12 games (eight starts) against the Mets.