The Braves didn’t just survive an elimination game. They answered it with the kind of performances that define October.
Atlanta punched its ticket to the NLDS by finally getting past the Phillies, a team that has been a problem for them this season and in recent seasons, and the victory came with the Braves’ core driving the whole thing. Michael Harris II opened the scoring with a first-inning homer off Aaron Nola.
Ozzie Albies added separation with a fourth-inning blast off Zack Wheeler. Matt Olson piled on with a seventh-inning homer of his own.
Then Chris Sale slammed the door, turning in the kind of outing that made the finish feel inevitable.
Sale’s appearance was not the original plan. Walt Weiss said he did not expect to ask him to go out on two days’ rest until Sale showed up in his office earlier in the day.
“I knew that if he was hanging, he would tell me,” explained Weiss. “I was not going to bring that up. But literally as soon as I stepped in my office this afternoon, he was sitting in the chair across my desk and he looked at me and he said ‘I feel amazing’ and I said ‘Well, let’s talk.”
Weiss said they worked out a plan from there, with Sale lined up to face the top of the order in the eighth or ninth inning.
“We mapped out a plan and I told him there was a good chance that he was gonna get the top of the order at some point in the eighth and the ninth inning and you know, it worked out that way,” continued Weiss as he laid out what the plan was for Sale’s eventual appearance. He had nothing but praise for the veteran coming out of the bullpen for such a large occasion.
“I was hoping that he’d only had to get one but he had to get four outs. What a warrior, man,” exclaimed Weiss.
I’ve run out of superlatives for Chris Sale. He’s one of the best I’ve ever been around.
When you take everything into consideration: Teammate, competitor, performer, work ethic. All those things, he’s as I’ve ever been around.”
Weiss wasn’t ready to look ahead when asked what the outing might mean for Sale in the NLDS.
“I don’t know, I have no idea,” stated Weiss when he was asked about the immediate future plans for Sale. “[We wanted to] put this thing down and then we’ll have those conversations later…it was all about tonight.”
Phillies manager Don Mattingly said he was not surprised Sale ended up being available.
“ Yeah, I expected him to be a part of the equation if they needed him,” answered Mattingly. “Yeah, for sure you kind of know that everybody is available.”
The big night also belonged to Albies and Harris, who each delivered in the biggest moment of the series and added to their track record against the two Philadelphia starters they beat again here. Albies has now homered three times against Nola, while Harris has three homers against Wheeler. Both added postseason homers to those totals and kept the Braves in control.
Albies said the approach was about doing the homework and waiting for the right pitch.
“We do our meetings and know what the pitcher is going to attack with,” explained Ozzie. “You look for your pitch, and if he leaves it where you want to take a good swing with that pitch - you saw it today. Like Mike said, too, he was looking for a good pitch and putting his best swing on it, and that’s what we both did tonight.”
Harris made the same point from his side, noting how the game unfolded early for him.
“I obviously had to come through in this situation. Runners on early on in the game, he got behind in the count, couldn’t really find the zone. Just found one pitch to put my best swing on and hopefully we got some runs out of it, and we did,” stated Harris.
Harris also said the clubhouse stayed loose before the elimination game, even if the stakes were obvious.
“I think in baseball you can’t do anything but try to stay loose. If you put more pressure on yourself, it’s just going to eat you up.
I felt like in the clubhouse today we talked more about fantasy football than baseball,” explained Harris. “It kept us ready.
Once we had our meeting, we kind of locked in and knew what we wanted to do when we came out.”
That looseness clearly carried over into a group that looked ready from the first inning on. After all the frustration against Philadelphia, this was the kind of win the Braves had been chasing.
“Definitely feels amazing to win against the Phillies because they were the ones that sent us home previous years, and especially at home,” said Ozzie when he was asked about it. “The fans were electric tonight. I’ve got to give the fans a shout out for sure.”
Weiss said Albies has long been one of the emotional anchors in the clubhouse.
“Ozzie’s one of the guys that’s been the heart-and-soul of this club,” answered Weiss. “He’s been here a long time - 10 years I believe, at this point.
He’s one of the guys, man. Everyone loves him.
He’s always got a smile on his face at all times. Everybody loves Ozzie - and for good reason.”
From Albies setting the tone, to Harris delivering on the big stage, to Sale stepping in on short rest and finishing the job, the Braves got the kind of night they needed to move on. They’re headed to Los Angeles now, with more work ahead. But for one night, they got exactly the result they wanted.
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That possibility alone adds another layer of pressure on the Phillies in an elimination game, because it gives Atlanta a way to shorten the night if the matchup turns tight late. For a series already hanging by a thread, the chance that Sale could surface in relief is the kind of wrinkle that can change how both dugouts manage every inning. [Read more 🡒]