The Braves are back in must-win mode tonight, and Walt Weiss is rolling out another lineup with a few twists for Game 3 of the Wild Card series against the Phillies.
Atlanta couldn’t finish the sweep yesterday afternoon, so the season now comes down to this. First pitch has been pushed back to 8 PM ET, giving Weiss a little extra time to map out how to handle a Philadelphia staff that could come at them with what the source describes as an “Oops, All Starters” approach.
Aaron Nola is set to start, and Zack Wheeler is expected to come out of the bullpen behind him. As the preview noted, everything is on the table.
Weiss’s batting order starts with Drake Baldwin, who will catch opener Ray Kerr and lead off. Ronald Acuña Jr. is in the two-hole and back in right field, with Matt Olson in his usual third spot at first base.
Michael Harris II follows in the cleanup role, then Mauricio Dubón at shortstop, after Ha-Seong Kim started the previous two games. Mike Yastrzemski is in left field and hitting sixth, Austin Riley bats seventh, Ozzie Albies drops to eighth, and Dominic Smith slots in ninth as the designated hitter.
The Phillies are sticking with the familiar names at the top. Trea Turner leads off at shortstop, Kyle Schwarber hits second as the DH, and Bryce Harper bats third in right field.
Alec Bohm, fresh off his game-winning homer yesterday, moves up to cleanup at first base. Bryson Stott is fifth at second base, followed by Bryan De La Cruz in left field.
Edmundo Sosa is back in the lineup after leaving Game 2 with an injury, hitting seventh at third base. JT Realmuto moves up to eighth at catcher, and Justin Crawford finishes the order in center field.
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Braves Enter Do Or Die Game 3 With One Huge Pitching Problem
The Braves head into a must-win Game 3 against a division rival with the kind of pitching uncertainty teams try to avoid in October. Philadelphia is expected to counter with Zack Wheeler, which only sharpens the pressure on Atlanta to piece together a workable plan on the mound. Grant Holmes and Ray Kerr are expected to be central to that approach, but the larger issue is simpler and more unsettling: there is no obvious traditional starter waiting to take the ball.
Tyler Mahle gave Atlanta a strong outing in Game 2 and has been one of the brighter signs recently, but even that was not enough to change the result. The Braves lost anyway, undone by a quiet night for the lineups power and a bullpen that could not hold the edge. Now the series has reached the point where every pitching decision matters, and Atlanta still has to answer the biggest question of all before the first pitch is thrown. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Just Got A Real Opening In Winner-Take-All Game 3
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For the Braves, the opening is in the matchup itself as much as the name on the lineup card. Nola has been uneven this season, but his history of success against Atlanta in past postseason moments gives the Phillies a reason to trust him, even if the move has sparked some second-guessing about leaving Wheeler out of the biggest start of the year. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Waste A Start That Should Have Changed This Series
Tyler Mahles first postseason start gave the Braves exactly the kind of pitching backbone they needed in a tense Wild Card Game 2 against the Phillies. After a shaky beginning, he settled in and worked effectively through seven innings, keeping Philadelphia in check and striking out several key batters along the way. For a team trying to swing the series back in its favor, it was the sort of outing that should have set up a much different night.
Instead, Atlanta kept leaving chances on the table. The Braves had multiple opportunities to break through, including a bases-loaded situation in the sixth inning, but could not fully cash in when the game was there to be taken. With the pitching doing its part and the offense unable to finish the job, it became one of those postseason losses that felt bigger than the final score. [Read more 🡒]