Weekend Reflections: Braves have fresher pitchers than Phillies for playoffs

The Braves clinched the NL East title on Sept. 20. That allowed manager Walt Weiss to take it easy on his pitching staff for the final week of the season.

The Phillies fought Arizona to the finish for the final NL wild card spot. They had to send out their best pitchers over the final days of the season.

That means the top pitchers for the Braves will be fresher for the best-of-three wild card series that begins Tuesday afternoon at Truist Park.

Ideally, the Phillies would start left-hander Cristopher Sánchez or right-hander Zack Wheeler in Game 1 with the normal four days of rest. Then, either Sánchez or Wheeler plus right-hander Aaron Nola would be available to pitch later in the series.

But manager Don Mattingly won’t be able to use that plan. None of his top three pitchers can start Game 1 on normal rest, and Wheeler might be available only for limited duty during the series.

Meanwhile, Weiss is free to use his starting pitchers as he pleases.

Weiss said left-hander Chris Sale (2.16 ERA) will start Game 1. Right-hander Tyler Mahle (1.99 ERA with the Braves) is the probable starter for Game 2. Weiss could save Grant Holmes (3.44 ERA) to start a possible Game 3, depending on how the series unfolds.

Mattingly may end up opening Game 1 with rookie starter Andrew Painter (5.40 ERA) on regular rest. Lefty Jesús Luzardo (2.86 ERA) is another option. He returned from the 15-day injured list Sunday and threw just four pitches in one inning of relief.

Left-hander Sánchez (2.91 ERA) poses the biggest threat to the Braves’ lefty-heavy lineup. He started against the Rays on Friday and threw 100 pitches over seven innings. He would be on regular rest for Game 2.

Mattingly started Wheeler (3.00 ERA) for the crucial game against the Rays on Sunday. The Phillies needed a win against the Rays or a Diamondbacks loss to earn the wild card. Philadelphia won 7-3 with Wheeler, allowing one run over six innings (97 pitches).

According to Baseball Reference, Wheeler has pitched one time in his career with less than the standard four days of rest. He pitched 1⅔ innings of scoreless relief (30 pitches) against the Diamondbacks in the 2023 NLCS three days after he started and pitched seven innings (99 pitches).

Nola pitched one inning (21 pitches) against the Rays on Saturday, three days after he pitched six innings (88 pitches) against the Brewers. That was the first time Nola pitched a game on less than four days’ rest.

The Braves outlasted the Phillies to win the NL East. Now they’ll reap the rewards of having rested pitchers against them for the wild card series.

Falcons’ fortunes improve in NFC South

Things looked bleak for the Falcons a week ago.

The Panthers punked them at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. They had a Thursday night game in Green Bay next. The quarterback options were Cooper Rush and Jack Strand.

Then the Falcons blew out the Packers in Lambeau Field with Michael Penix Jr. making a triumphant return. The three other South teams lost Sunday.

Suddenly, things are looking up for Atlanta.

The Falcons (1-2) are tied with the Panthers and Saints, while preseason favorite Tampa Bay is 0-3 for the first time since 2014. They have a competent quarterback and a defense that’s generating a consistent pass rush despite missing two key contributors.

The Panthers and Saints both lost in Week 3 when purportedly washed-up quarterbacks led game-winning drives against them.

Carolina extended Cleveland’s game-winning drive with a roughing-the-passer penalty that wiped out Deshaun Watson’s interception. The Panthers confirmed my suspicions that Rush’s bad performance in Week 2 made them look good when they really aren’t.

Ex-Falcons QB Kirk Cousins helped the Raiders overcome an 11-point, second-half deficit to beat the Saints in the Superdome. Cousins threw two of his three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, while the Saints cried foul over another key call that went against them.

The Bucs gave up an 86-yard punt return for a touchdown during their loss to the Vikings. Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield left the game after he injured his thumb on a pass in the fourth quarter.

It’s not going to be easy for the Falcons to win the South. They have the hardest remaining schedule among the division’s teams, based on combined win percentage of future opponents.

The tough seven-game slate before the bye week sees road games against the Saints and Bucs and home games against the Ravens (2-1), Bears (1-1), 49ers (3-0), Bengals (2-1) and Chiefs (3-0).

The Falcons didn’t seem to have a chance of surviving that stretch a week ago. Penix’s strong return and the state of the South changed the outlook.

Georgia Tech might be ACC’s worst team

ACC media picked Stanford to finish last in the league. The Cardinal reinforced that standing by losing to Miami and Duke by a combined score of 80-13.

But it turns out Georgia Tech might be the worst team in the ACC. If you think it’s too early to make that proclamation, then you probably didn’t see Tech lose 34-27 at Stanford as Saturday became Sunday.

Hopefully, you decided to get some sleep instead. I stayed up and watched the Jackets squander a 10-point lead in the third quarter while allowing Stanford to score 17 points. Stanford was averaging 16.7 points per game.

The Cardinal gained 30 yards or more on four passing plays in the third quarter, including touchdowns for 49 and 33 yards. They had zero passing plays of 30-plus yards against Miami and Duke.

Tech does not perform like a well-coached team. One of many examples at Stanford: After the Cardinal scored a touchdown to take a 27-20 lead, the Jackets had to call a timeout before the first play of their next series because they couldn’t get lined up in time.

The Jackets faced a fourth-and-45 on their final play of the game because of an intentional-grounding penalty. They fumbled the ball away after a series of laterals.

It was a fitting, futile end to a bad loss by a bad football team.

My Weekend Predictions were 6-5

Picking the Yellow Jackets to win as favorites didn’t prevent me from posting my third consecutive winning week. Picking against every NFC South team except the Falcons paid off. The Falcons, Browns and Raiders affirmed my love for underdogs by winning straight-up.

Three quick thoughts

1. For a while, it looked like the Atlanta Dream didn’t learn lessons from their first-round playoff exit last year. They trailed the Mystics by 11 points early in Game 1 of the opening round playoff series Sunday at State Farm Arena. The Dream were still down at halftime but played with more intensity in the second half and ran away to a 92-77 victory. Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Wednesday at Washington.
2. Maybe Georgia sophomore Talyn Taylor is ready to be the No. 1 wide receiver his team needs. Taylor had four catches for 110 yards with a long of 41 and a 35-yard TD during Georgia’s rout of Oklahoma on Saturday. Said Bulldogs linebacker Jalen Wilson: “People have been hard on our receivers all offseason, like we don’t have any. But we’ve got some dudes in that room.”
3. Atlanta United came back twice to earn a 2-2 draw with New York City FC on Saturday despite missing four regulars because they were away playing for national teams. The list included captain Miguel Almirón (Paraguay) and leading scorer Alexey Miranchuk (Russia). With seven matches to play, United (7-14-6) is six points out of qualifying for the play-in match to decide the final playoff spot.