PHILADELPHIA — Fresh off a series defeat that appeared imminent almost from the first pitch, Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker was asked his thoughts about playing in the same division as the Atlanta Braves, the team with the best record this season in the major leagues, and the Philadelphia Phillies, a team that in this NL Wild Card series looked every bit capable of defending its National League championship.
“They’re two of the best teams in the major leagues we face,” Schumaker said. “Incredibly tough to navigate a lineup, as far as bullpen matchups. There are no holes. They’re star power up and down the lineup that are postseason tested.”
And yet, as any dedicated standings gazer will attest, the Phillies, after coming off a World Series, missing Rhys Hoskins for the season and Bryce Harper for the first several weeks of it, were the proud winners of 90 games this season. Big whoop.
Atlanta won an MLB best 104. Waving red rally towels or white flags, Philly? How well does your team match up in this pending National League Divisional Series, anyway?
“I think pretty well,” Rob Thomson said. “They have a really good club. Don’t sell them short at all. But I think we do match up. I think our offense can go against anybody’s, our two guys that pitched in this series (starters Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola), they are really pitching well right now. They are on a roll and hopefully they stay on a roll. Atlanta’s a good ballclub, so we have a tough test.
“It doesn’t guarantee anything but I think we have a really good club and we’re built for series-type baseball.”
The Phillies won only five of the 13 games they played against the Braves this season. That came after pulling an upset victory over Atlanta in the 2022 NLDS. The spin on what happened a year ago? The Braves were essentially spent after battling down to the wire for the division title against the Mets. Both teams won more than 100 games then.
The Phillies were the unsuspecting third wild card that was in the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. Nobody, including them, saw it coming.
Not so this season. They knew Harper faced Tommy John surgery and the subsequent rehab. But no one saw Hoskins’ knee injury coming late in spring training. And Atlanta, with should-be MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. playing at peek performance level, played all season like a team needing to prove itself. Said Thomson of the Braves: “They played consistent baseball all year long. From Day 1 they didn’t go on a long losing streak that I know of. … But we’re playing really good baseball right now and I think it’s going to be a really good series.”
Yes, now. That’s what matters.
Not that the Braves faltered down the stretch, but they had the division wrapped up in August. What slowed them a bit were late injuries to starting pitchers Charlie Morton and Max Fried. Both are on the 15-day IL, but they aren’t through.
Fried, dealing with a finger blister on his throwing hand, is expected to start Game 2 against Wheeler Monday in Atlanta, perhaps with a couple of fingers crossed. Morton, who has a sprained finger on his right (throwing) hand, likely won’t be ready until the NLCS, if the Braves beat the Phillies to get there.
That culpability in the Braves starting rotation has given Phillies fans hope. So has the way their team has played recently, and the way their bullpen has held together, and the way both Wheeler and Nola have been mowing down batters in recent starts, including both games against Miami. Or, as Schumaker put it, “Wheeler and Nola. Those guys are going to haunt my dreams.
“That Nola-Wheeler combo right there, was as good as you’re going to find in the major leagues,” Schumaker added after the Phillies’ 7-1 series wrap Wednesday night. “And their back-end bullpen with (Jose) Alvarado and a playoff tested (Craig) Kimbrel, and (Gregory) Soto was throwing 102 mph sinkers or whatever it was … they are really tough, and they’re coached really, really well.”
Then again, the Braves are the Braves. They still have their top starter, Spencer Strider, who only went 20-5 with a 3.86 ERA and a league-best 281 strikeouts this season. And they have Acuna anchoring baseball’s best offensive lineup from 1 through 9.
“Obviously the Braves are … we didn’t really know how to pitch them, honestly,” Schumaker said. “I don’t think the league did. We were trying everything, and it starts with the top of that middle of the order. They make you pay when you make a little bit of a mistake. The run games on both sides are incredible. It’s going to come down to bullpen and starting pitching. I think it always does.
“That’s no different with the Braves and the Phillies. It comes down to starting pitching and bullpen, and it’s going to be a really good series because they’re both coached so well and they’re so talented that I’m looking forward to watching it.”
So, too, is everyone else.
Source: Berkshire mont
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