Braves and Phillies took different paths to playoffs, but rivalry remains fierce
USA TODAY Sports’ MLB experts examine what makes the Braves-Phillies rivalry so compelling as the division foes prepare for another October battle.
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Austin Riley spent most of this season as the Braves’ biggest question. On Tuesday, he answered it with one swing.
Riley’s three-run homer off Phillies closer Jhoan Duran in the eighth inning gave the Braves a 5-3 win in Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series at Truist Park. Atlanta is now one win away from the Division Series.
Chris Sale struck out nine over 6⅓ innings in the longest postseason start of his career. J.T. Realmuto’ two-run triple in the seventh had given the Phillies a brief lead.
Riley had hit .219 with a career-high 201 strikeouts during the regular season. He turned on a 100-mph fastball from Duran, who was working his second inning for the Phillies, and drove it 385 feet.
The Phillies just squeaked into the playoffs thanks to Zack Wheeler’s gem in their regular-season finale, taking the final NL wild card spot over the hard-charging Arizona Diamondbacks. The Braves cruised into the postseason, winning the NL East by six games over the Phils.
USA TODAY Sports provided live updates and highlights from Game 1 between the Phillies and Braves:
| Tm | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Phi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| Atl | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | x- | 5 | 7 | 0 |
Austin Riley had the worst season of his career: .219 average, .654 OPS and 201 strikeouts. His postseason history isn’t much better. He entered Tuesday hitting .232 in 36 playoff games.
That was all forgiven with one swing Tuesday. Riley hit a three-run homer off Jhoan Duran to give the Braves a two-run lead heading into the ninth.
Don Mattingly went to his closer in the seventh inning. It worked, but not cleanly.
Jhoan Duran finished 55 of his 61 games this season. He’s a ninth-inning pitcher. Mattingly brought him in two innings early to protect a 3-2 lead after the bridge to him has proven unreliable this season.
The logic is sound. In a best-of-three game series, the biggest outs can come before the nine, and Mattingly clearly doesn’t trust anyone else. Duran stranded the tying run at third. The lead survived, but now the Phillies need six outs from somewhere.
J.T. Realmuto went 414 at-bats this season without a triple. He got one in the seventh inning of a playoff game and it was the game-changer.
With two outs and runners on the corner, Realmuto lined a Didier Fuentes pitch the opposite way. Ronald Acuna Jr. overran it in the corner. Bryan De La Cruz scored. Bryson Stott scored and the Phillies went up 3-2.
Realmuto is a rare catcher who used to actually hit triples. He has 35 in his career, seven of them in 2015 with Miami. That was the most by a catcher with at least 80 games caught since Darrell Porter had 10 in 1979, according to STATS.
He is 35 now. He had one triple last season and none this year. He hit
It took 1,805 days for Chris Sale to get back on a postseason mound. He pitched to the occasion.
His bullpen did not.
Sale went 6 1/3 innings, the longest of his career in seven postseason starts. He also struck out nine, a personal best in the playoffs.
He left with a one-run lead and two on base. Both runners scored, making his final line four hits, three runs, one walk and nine strikeouts in 6 1/3.
Derek Hill made a tremendous leaping grab at Ozzie Albies’ fly ball at the wall, after the jump however, everything went wrong. Hill lost his glove when he came down, chased the ball and lost his footing on the warning track. He recovered, but not before Albies had an RBI-triple and the Braves had a 2-1 lead after six.
Jesus Luzardo was supposed to give the Phillies two innings. He gave them five and was effective doing it.
He allowed one run on three hits, one walk and six strikeouts. He got 11 swings and misses and topped out at 98 miles an hour. It was only his second appearance since Sept.7. He’s been on the injured list with a shoulder problem and threw one inning on four pitches Sunday.
The Braves never squared him up. Of the 12 balls they put in play, just one left the bat at 95 mph or harder, an Ozzie Albies groundout pounded straight into the dirt. Atlanta’s only run needed some help. Statcast gave Mike Yastrzemski’s RBI single in the second a 16% chance of being a hit. It got through and cost the Phillies.
He kept the Braves baffled with two pitches. Three of his strikeouts came on fastballs and three came on sliders.
Rookie, right-hander Alex McFarlane took over for the bottom of the sixth.
Clearly Chris Sale has decided the Phillies are going to have to hit his slider. Through five innings, 36 of his first 66 pitches were sliders, more than half.
It’s working. The Phillies have swung and missed 15 times, and at least four of Sale’s seven strikeouts have come on the slider, including Trea Turner in the first inning, Bryson Stott in the second and Bryan De La Cruz in the fifth.
The pitch gets hitters to chase. Sale finished the regular season with a 36.5% chase rate, third-best among pitchers with at least 120 innings.
Phillies manager Don Mattingly will be watching starter Jesus Luzardo closely, since he’d only thrown one competitive inning (and just four pitches) since going on the injured list after his Sept. 7 start against the Braves.
So far, so good through three innings in this wild card game. Luzardo, who had a 6-1 record and 1.84 ERA in 10 post-All-Star break starts, may not be able to go much longer … but he’s kept the visiting Phillies in the game to this point.
The Braves have pulled even against Phillies starter Jesus Luzardo with a manufactured run in the bottom of the second inning.
Mauricio Dubon led off the Atlanta second with a double to left. He moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Michael Harris, but was caught in a rundown when a pitch hit off the knob of Austin Riley’s bat and dribbled out to Luzardo.
Ozzie Albies, who had walked earlier to put runners on the corners, smartly advanced all the way to third during the play. He then scored on Mike Yastrzemski’s two-out single up the middle.
MLB’s new rule allowing players to challenge an umpire’s call has made its debut in the 2026 postseason.
A 1-0 pitch in the bottom of the second inning to Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies was called a strike, but Albies immediately called for an ABS challenge.
Upon review, the call was reversed to a ball. Albies eventually walked and scored the Braves’ first run of the game.
There’s an interesting subtext with today’s game with Chris Sale on the mound and umpire Dan Merzel behind the plate.
Merzel ejected Sale from a game in August against the Yankees before it even started when the left-hander brought up a balk Merzel called the night before. Sale started barking at Merzel as the umpires came out onto the field for the Aug. 9 series finale. Mezel didn’t waste much time, ejecting the Cy Young Award winner quickly.
We’ll see if any of that bad blood might happen to carry over into the postseason.
Braves left-hander Chris Sale isn’t pounding the strike zone by any means to start the game, but he’s getting the Phillies hitters to swing anyway. Trea Turner struck out swinging on a 79 mph slider to start the game.
After a Kyle Schwarber walk on a 3-2 check swing, Bryce Harper went down swinging on a 100 mph heater.
With the count 2-2 on Alec Bohm, Sale tried to get him to chase a high fastball, but the Phils first baseman went up and got it, hammering it over the head of center fielder Michael Harris to score Schwarber all the way from first for the game’s initial run.
What time is Braves vs Phillies today?
First pitch in Game 1 of the NL wild card series is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.
Wild card series at Truist Park in Atlanta. Game 3 time subject to change.
- Game 1, Tuesday: Phillies at Braves – buy tickets – 2 p.m. ET, NBC & Peacock
- Game 2, Wednesday: Phillies at Braves – buy tickets – 2 p.m. ET, NBC & Peacock
- Game 3*, Thursday: Phillies at Braves – buy tickets – 2 p.m. ET, NBC & Peacock
- Braves — Chris Sale: 14-9 with 2.16 ERA in 27 starts, and 200 strikeouts in 162⅔
- Phillies — Jesus Luzardo: 14-5 with 2.86 ERA in 30 games (29 starts), and 221 strikeouts in 179⅔
See our staff’s complete predictions for the wild-card round:
- Bob Nightengale: Braves in 3
- Gabe Lacques: Braves in 2
- Jesse Yomtov: Phillies in 2
Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 11:45 a.m. ET:
- Braves -1.5 (+118), Phillies +1.5 (-145)
- Moneyline: Braves -185, Phillies +155
- Over/under: 6.5 runs
This might be hyperbole, but we feel safe to say that the potential World Series matchups have never been so politically loaded. Gabe Lacques breaks down the nine most delicious World Series matchups based on narrative, geography and, dare we say, ball itself. — Gabe Lacques
National League wild card round
Best of 3, seeds in parentheses
National League division series
Best of 5
- Philadelphia/Atlanta winner vs. Milwaukee Brewers (1)
- Chicago/San Diego winner vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (2)
National League championship series
Best of 7
- Philadelphia/Atlanta/Milwaukee vs. Chicago/San Diego/Los Angeles
American League wild card round
Best of 3, seeds in parentheses
American League division series
Best of 5
- Boston/New York winner vs. Tampa Bay Rays (1)
- Chicago/Houston winner vs. Cleveland Guardians (2)
American League championship series
Best of 7
- Boston/New York/Tampa Bay vs. Chicago/Houston/Cleveland
Print out a bracket and let the games begin!
- Dodgers
- Rays
- Brewers
- Yankees
- Guardians
See how Gabe Lacques’ filled out the rest of the Top 12, and why.
The Braves won the season series from the Phillies, 9-4.
Atlanta took five of six from their NL East rival in April, including a three-game sweep in Philadelphia. The two teams didn’t play again until September, splitting a four-game series in Philly before Atlanta took two of three at home on Sept. 11-13.
Atlanta outscored Philly 66-43 during their 13 matchups.