While the three other wild card series ended in two-game sweeps, the matchup between the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies has delivered exceptional postseason drama.
In game one, the Braves trailed late while trying to mount a comeback against typically dominant closer Jhoan Duran. With two outs in the bottom of the 8th down 3-2, third baseman Austin Riley delivered, launching a game-changing homer to give Atlanta a 5-3 lead. Raisel Iglesias closed it out to give them a 1-0 series lead.
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Philadelphia turned the tables in game two, just when it seemed like the Braves would close out the sweep. With the score tied at one, Bryce Harper misplayed a routine fly ball to right field in the bottom of the 7th, allowing a run to score and setting up another to come in on a sacrifice fly. In the 8th, he made up for it. After Kyle Schwarber demolished a ball to make it 3-2, Harper followed it up with one of his own to tie it at 3. Alec Bohm broke the tie in the 10th, and Andrew Painter finished out the save for Philly.
PHILLIES AND BRAVES REACH WILD CARD GAME 3 AFTER TWO MASTERPIECE CONTESTS NO OTHER SERIES MATCHED
The late-inning heroics set up a winner-take-all game three back at Truist Park on Thursday night. Division rivals. Primetime. Win or go home. Packed house. That’s what playoff baseball is all about. And the Braves stars made sure the home fans would go home happy.
Philadelphia started the game at a bit of a disadvantage thanks to their late-season pitching plans. Because the Arizona Diamondbacks refused to exit the wild card race, the Phillies were forced to start Zack Wheeler on Sunday afternoon and punch their ticket to the postseason. While it worked to send them to Atlanta, that put Wheeler on short rest for Thursday’s must-win game three.
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Instead, the Phillies turned to veteran starter Aaron Nola, coming off the worst season of his career but on more rest than Wheeler. In the first inning, it backfired. After back-to-back walks to Ronald Acuna Jr. and Matt Olson, Michael Harris II hit a three-run homer to right center field to put Atlanta up 3-0 in the blink of an eye.
Backing themselves into a corner with their pitching options, Atlanta turned to Ray Kerr, a reliever with just 18 regular season innings this year, to open the game against the powerful Phillies lineup. And because baseball remains baseball and thus unpredictable, Kerr went 3.1 innings with just one hit, one walk, two strikeouts, and no runs allowed.
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Grant Holmes and a parade of relievers helped keep the Phillies mostly at bay heading into the middle innings, when Ozzie Albies gave Atlanta some breathing room with a two-run homer off Wheeler, pitching in relief.
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The Phillies put two runners in scoring position with one out in the 6th, but could only bring in a single run on an Alec Bohm ground out. Matt Olson got it right back with a solo homer in the 7th, to extend the lead to 6-1. Philly clawed back a run on a Trea Turner sac fly in the 8th, and Braves manager Walt Weiss, instead of turning to closer Raisel Iglesias, brought in superstar starter Chris Sale to close it out.
Atlanta’s win sets up a clash of the titans against the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS, with star-studded lineups and pitching staffs on both sides. LA, at first glance, has the advantage thanks to the rest a first-round bye provides.
The Dodgers will be able to set up the rotation the way they’d prefer, enjoy a fully rested bullpen, while the extra time off allowed injured players like Shohei Ohtani to heal ahead of the series. On the other hand, Atlanta has played three straight competitive games in intense, playoff environments. Going from 0–100 has proven challenging for some teams coming off bye weeks, which might negate some of LA’s advantage.
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Still, Atlanta will have to piece together a pitching plan for the first game of the series. Sale started game one of the wild card series, but coming in to close out game three negates any chance of pitching on short rest on Saturday. Tyler Mahle pitched on Wednesday, which would seem to knock him out until game three at the earliest. Grant Holmes pitched two innings on Thursday, putting his availability in doubt.
But the Braves’ offense remains dangerous thanks to star-level performance and depth with Olson, Riley, Albies, Acuna, Harris, and Drake Baldwin. Iglesias had a very good season at the back of the bullpen, and Sale is a force of nature.
LA’s offense has surprisingly struggled this year, but their rotation is outstanding, to say the least. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell, and Tyler Glasnow are as good as anyone.
Should be must-see TV.
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