Three Cuts: Freddie Freeman chasing numbers that have never been seen in Atlanta

Winners of eight straight at SunTrust Park, a sweep of the White Sox has the Braves headed toward their first winning record against the American League since 2013.

But that's all about holding serve, isn't it? The Nationals -- winners of four straight and still 5 1/2 games back in the National League East -- is heading to Atlanta on Thursday to open the Braves' gauntlet of 14 straight games vs. Washington and the Phillies.

And, yes, after avoiding him all season, the Braves are finally slated to see Max Scherzer, who is penciled in for Sunday's series finale (and he comes after Atlanta will see Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin as well).

Things are heating up as we head to September, for team and the Braves and their MVP candidate first baseman.

With a pair of two-run home runs off White Sox All-Star Lucas Giolito in Sunday's 5-3 win, Freddie Freeman built on what's already a career-high number of long balls -- 38 and counting -- and he drove in five on the day to push his RBI total to 114, the most in the majors and the highest total of his 10-year career.

"MVP," said manager Brian Snitker. "He's amazing. What he does and the timing and when we need it."

Freeman isn't alone in the race for the Braves' first 40-home run season since Andruw Jones hit 41 in 2006, with Ronald Acuña Jr. sitting on 36 - and running down the fifth 40/40 year in MLB history with 33 steals -- and Josh Donaldson with 33. But it's Freeman, backed by that RBI total, that is chasing down a season that's never been seen in Atlanta.

On pace for 45 home runs and 134 RBI, those figures would make Freeman the first player since the team moved to Georgia in 1966 to have 44 or more homers and 130-plus RBI. The other three such seasons in franchise history belong to Hank Aaron (1957 and '63) and Eddie Mathews (1953), all while the team was in Milwaukee.

Only five National League players have had that kind of season in the last 10 years, Giancarlo Staton (2017), Nolan Arenado (2016 and '15), Prince Fielder (2009), Ryan Howard (2008 and '09) and Albert Pujols ('09).

Freeman's home run pace also him chasing a few other pieces of franchise history. No Braves first baseman has ever hit more than Andres Galarraga's 44 in 1998 and with 30 doubles, he's now three homers from the fourth 40/30 season, joining Chipper Jones (1999), Aaron ('69) and Mathews ('53).

Days like Sunday are going to go along way toward Freeman etching his name in Braves history. His five-RBI day was the seventh time in his career he's driven in that many runs, but it's now just the second time he's done it twice in a season, the last coming in 2012.

"If he's not the MVP of this league, I don't know who is," Snitker said. "We don't take him for granted. We know we have something pretty special in the person and the ballplayer."

Freeman is trending in the right direction for this historical chase, and sets the stage for an intriguing next two weeks with 14 games vs. the Nationals and Phillies.

While his .800 OPS vs. Washington is fourth-lowest of any NL team the Braves have faced this season, Freeman has a 1.110 OPS vs. the Phillies, the best of any team he's seen more than seven times.

The umbrella celebration was the punctuation on a ridiculous month for Josh Donaldson, who had a .989 OPS and 152 wRC+ with eight home runs and five doubles in August.

As good as Donaldson was -- and he was the Braves' best position player in August, hitting 13 percent better than Freeman (139 wRC+) -- it underscores just how epic the Bringer of Rain has been in Augusts throughout his career that this wasn't even close to the most productive Donaldson has been over this 31-day run.

Donaldson in his career has a 170 wRC+ in August with a 168 wRC+ in 2014, 200 during his American League MVP season of 2015, 165 in 2016 and 168 in '17. The "worst" August he's ever had was in 2013 when he hit 30 percent above league average in 2013, his first full season in the majors.

While Donaldson has lived up to to the offensive billing, with his first 30-home run season since 2017 and the first time he's played in more than 113 games since 2016, only one full-time third baseman has a better defensive bWAR than Donaldson at 1.1, that would be the A's Matt Chapman (2.0).

It would seem a no-brainer at this point that general manager Alex Anthopoulos will make a push to keep Donaldson in Atlanta past the 2019 season, with the biggest question now being: what would it take to keep him?

The first games for Shane Greene with the Braves were a struggle as he lost the closer job to Mark Melancon, but he's not only recaptured his All-Star form, but has been a consistently strong as he has at any point in his career.

Greene induced groundouts from the White Sox's Yoan Moncada, James McCann and Eloy Jimenez during the eighth inning Sunday, giving the right-hander 10 consecutive scoreless appearances (a span of 10 innings) in which he's allowed four hits and struck out 10.

That's tied for the longest such run of Greene's career, equalling the 10 games he went without giving up a run from May 24-June 29 for the Tigers.

The only Braves relievers since 2013 who have had longer streaks: Craig Kimbrel (28, 17 and 12) and Arodys Vizcaino (14 and 11).

Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney and Facebook. His books, 'Tales from the Atlanta Braves Dugout: A Collection of the Greatest Braves Stories Ever Told,' and 'The Heisman Trophy: The Story of an American Icon and Its Winners.' are now available.