Braves to face rival Phillies to open playoffs
MIAMI — One of two National League wild-card series this week will be an all-NL East affair.
The Phillies (88-74) will come to Atlanta to face the Braves at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Truist Park. The Phillies needed a 7-3 win over the Rays on Sunday to clinch the NL’s final playoff spot and No. 6 seed in the six-team NL bracket.
In the regular season, the Braves went 9-4 against the Phillies and outscored them 66-43. They went 5-1 against them in April, including a three-game sweep in Philadelphia, and 4-3 against them in September.
The Braves took the division lead April 8 and held it for the rest of the regular season in front of the second-place Phillies, who climbed within two games in the standings July 18 but never managed to get any closer.
Under interim manager Don Mattingly, who took over the club April 28 after the firing of skipper Rob Thomson, the Phillies needed a win Sunday or a Diamondbacks loss to qualify for the postseason. They left nothing to chance by jumping on the visiting Rays for four runs across the first two innings, then pulled away from there.
Phillies left-handed ace Cristopher Sánchez (18-7, 2.91) could start Tuesday’s matchup at Truist Park, though he just pitched Friday. In two starts during the regular season, Sánchez went 0-2, allowed six runs (three earned) over 12 innings, struck out 13 hitters, gave up 13 hits and walked four.
Jesús Luzardo (14-5, 2.87), a lefty, returned from the injured list and pitched one inning Sunday — he had not appeared in a game since Sept. 7, when he shut out the Braves in a two-hit, 12-strikeout complete game. Righty Zack Wheeler (14-5, 3.00) started Sunday’s win in Philly.
The Braves have never faced the Phillies in the wild-card round. In the 2023 and 2022 best-of-five division round the Phillies beat the Braves 3-1 both times. The Phillies won the 1993 best-of-seven National League championship series 4-2. In the 1914 World Series, the Boston Braves swept the Phillies in four games.