Biggest series of season on deck for Braves
The biggest series of the season, thus far, is upon the Braves.
Atop the NL East by four games, the Braves arrived in Philadelphia on Wednesday night with plenty of time to reset their focus toward four games with the rival Phillies starting Friday at Citizens Bank Park. Because of the Braves’ 9-0 win against the Nationals in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, and because the Phillies lost 1-0 to the Diamondbacks in Phoenix the same day, the Braves can do no worse than leave town Monday in a tie for the division lead.
That scenario would mean a Philly sweep this weekend, and the Braves certainly don’t want that. If that does transpire, however, the two squads are scheduled to meet a week from Friday for three more games at Truist Park. The Braves could also build a seemingly insurmountable eight-game lead if they were to win all four matchups this weekend.
Here is a closer look at the next four games between Atlanta and Philadelphia:
- Both sides have set their starting rotation for the four-game series with Braves starters listed first. At 6:40 p.m. Friday, Chris Sale (13-9, 2.06) will be opposed by Cristopher Sánchez (16-4, 2.52). At 6:05 p.m. Saturday, Martín Pérez (8-8, 3.05) will pitch against Zack Wheeler (11-5, 3.31). At 1:10 p.m. Sunday, Tyler Mahle (5-10, 4.25) will go up against Aaron Nola (6-10, 4.93). And at 1:05 p.m. Monday, Bryce Elder (8-8, 4.11) and Jesús Luzardo (13-5, 3.02) will pitch in the finale.
- The Braves (83-57) are 5-1 against the Phillies (79-61) this season, but the two squads haven’t met since April 26 when the Braves took the rubber game of a three-game series at Truist Park. On April 17-19, the Braves swept the Phillies over three games in Philadelphia.
- Both squads are virtual locks to make the postseason. FanGraphs places the odds of the Braves being a playoff team at 100% and at 99.5% for the Phillies. Going into the weekend the Braves are the current No. 2 seed in the National League and the Phillies are the No. 4.
- On April 7 (the same day Walt Weiss tackled Jorge Soler), the Braves were a half-game back of the Mets in the NL East and a half-game in front of the Phillies. A win the next day vaulted the Braves into first place, a position they haven’t relinquished since. The Phillies fell to 10 games under .500 at one point in April and have trailed the Braves in the division by 10½ games at least six different occasions. They were two games back as recently as July 18, but have yet to draw any closer.
- Friday, Saturday and Monday’s games will be televised by BravesVision, while Sunday’s game will be televised by NBC.