After pulsating Game 1 win, Braves can’t let Phillies off the hook

As hard-fought and narrow as the Braves’ Game 1 win was – and it was thinner than a spaghetti strand on a diet – they’ve now got to finish Philadelphia off.

The gutsy 5-3 win in the opener of the best-of-three National League wild-card series was but a start.

Next: Eliminate the Phillies in Wednesday’s Game 2 and remove the tension and danger of losing a winner-take-all Game 3, when one mistake can end the season.

And, not unimportantly, it would give the Braves their best chance to topple the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series.

“You try to simplify it,” utility player supreme Mauricio Dubón said. “Like I said, we take it a day at a time.”

The Braves have earned an extra-large advantage by taking the first game before a raucous afternoon crowd at Truist. (Center fielder Michael Harris II: “It was good to see some kids skip school.”)

There have been 16 best-of-three wild-card series since MLB adopted its present playoff format in 2022. The winner of Game 1 has won 15 of 16 times.

Unless the game goes haywire, a win in Game 2 would allow manager Walt Weiss to keep more of his pitching staff fresh for the best-of-five NLCS series that starts Saturday in Los Angeles.

While the Braves would be quite happy to beat the Phillies in three games if they couldn’t do it in two, it would cost them whatever pitchers they use in Game 3 (Grant Holmes is a likely candidate) rather than have them available for the start of the NLDS.

For what the Braves’ choices are, Holmes would be a far better option than a bullpen game for Game 1 at Dodger Stadium. The latter seems a possibility if the Braves and Phillies went to three games (and the Braves won).

Plus, Holmes has been excellent in road games this season (2.46 ERA away from Truist Park with a .205 opponent batting average) and, while it would be his postseason debut, doesn’t seem likely to be fazed by the moment.

And, of course, that’s assuming the Braves would even win a Game 3. Not that they couldn’t, but they appear to have a better chance of winning Game 2 than Game 3.

Game 2 starter Tyler Mahle has delivered win-worthy starts in eight of his nine outings since the Braves acquired him at the trade deadline. He finished the regular season with a 1.99 ERA in a Braves uniform.

“Tyler has been great,” Weiss said after Tuesday’s game. “He’s been a huge pickup. He’s changed our rotation, changed our team, been a tremendous addition. Feel good about him taking the hill (Wednesday).”

Should Philadelphia win Wednesday, the weight goes on the Braves’ shoulders in Game 3.

Anyone with any familiarity with postseasons in Atlanta knows that a winner-take-all game should be avoided at all costs, especially when the opponent was the team that forced it. Game 1 was all the proof necessary of how the difference between winning and losing – triumph and despair – is so, so thin.

For instance, what if Philadelphia star Bryce Harper’s sixth-inning fly ball down the right field line stays fair for a two-run home run that would have put the Phillies ahead 3-1, instead of going barely foul?

(I asked Dubón his reaction watching that ball fatefully soar down the line. His response: “Strike two.”) (It was actually strike one, but still funny.)

The Braves don’t need that sort of risk and their fans don’t need the stress.