When the Braves and Phillies met in Philadelphia in the first week of April, the teams were just beginning a long journey in what was touted at the time to be baseball’s best division.
Fast-forward through a long, difficult season to the last week of September, and the Braves and Phillies are still trying to sort out who’ll win the National League East, which turned out to be less stellar than forecast.
The teams will meet again, beginning Tuesday night at Truist Park, with the first-place Braves carrying a 2-1/2 game lead over the second-place Phillies into a crucial three-game series.
The Braves could clinch the NL East championship by sweeping the series. The Phillies, on the other hand, could move into first place by a half-game by sweeping.
Other possible scenarios for the series: If the Braves win two of three, they’d lead the division by 3-1/2 games with potentially four to play (three against the Mets and a makeup game, if necessary, against Colorado). If the Phillies win two of three, they’d trail by 1-1/2 games with three to play (at Miami).
“As a team, as a whole, I think we’re confident going into Atlanta,” Phillies star Bryce Harper told reporters after his team’s 6-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday in Philadelphia. “... We haven’t played Miami very well the last couple years, especially this year (8-8), so yeah, I would imagine a sweep would be nice.”
Harper, a leading National League MVP candidate, has kept the Phillies in contention. He tops the majors in OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) at 1.055 and, per FanGraphs, trails only Washington’s Juan Soto among NL position players in WAR (wins above replacement). Harper brings a 22-game on-base streak to Atlanta, having hit .377 with a 1.373 OPS, eight home runs and 19 RBIs during that stretch.
Credit: Ben Margot/AP
Credit: Ben Margot/AP
Like the Braves (83-72), the Phillies (81-75) hovered around .500 much of the season, staying relevant in a forgiving division. The Phillies haven’t been more than seven games above breakeven, nor more than four games below .500, at any point this year.
The Braves have been in first place and the Phillies in second place every day since Aug. 14, when the two teams were tied for the lead. The Phillies were 4-1/2 games behind the Braves at 72-72 on Sept. 14, but since then have gained a bit of ground by winning nine of 12 games.
The Braves’ magic number is now five, meaning any combination of Atlanta wins and Philadelphia losses totaling five would clinch the division title.
The Braves are 7-9 against the Phillies this season, including being swept in the three-game season-opening series April 1-4. The teams most recently met July 22-25, splitting a four-game series in Philadelphia. The Braves are 4-2 against the Phillies at Truist Park, compared to 3-7 in Philly.
This week’s games clearly loom larger than any of the five previous series between the teams this season.
“I’m looking forward to it. It’s kind of like one of the coolest situations to be in, an opportunity to clinch at home in front of all our fans,” Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. “But we’ve just got to take it game by game and go out there and try to win the series against the Phillies. They’re a good team, and they’ve been playing good baseball.”
The Phillies are trying to make the playoffs for the first time in 10 years, while the Braves are vying to win a fourth consecutive NL East championship.
“We are within the striking distance that I talked about (earlier in the month),” Harper said. “They have their three (best starting pitchers) going, we have our three guys going, and it’s going to be a great series.”
The scheduled pitching matchups are the Braves’ Charlie Morton (13-6, 3.53 ERA) against the Phillies’ Zack Wheeler (14-9, 2.79 ERA and an NL-leading 240 strikeouts in an MLB-high 206-1/3 innings pitched) on Tuesday night, the Braves’ Max Fried (13-7, 3.12) against the Phillies’ Aaron Nola (9-8, 4.64) on Wednesday night and the Braves’ Ian Anderson (8-5, 3.60) against the Phillies’ Kyle Gibson (10-8, 3.60) on Thursday night.
“It’s going to be fun. This is going to be what you play for,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “This is a big series, and I’d rather have it that way than the other, and we’ll see what happens. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
