How’s that for a curtain-raiser on this Postseason run for the Atlanta Braves? The best way that I can describe how that first game went down is to paraphrase a quote from my favorite professional wrestler of all time. The only thing that’s for sure about the Postseason is that nothing’s for sure.
That’s the only proper way to explain what happened with the two biggest hits of this game from both sides. J.T. Realmuto coming through with a go-ahead triple for the Phillies in the seventh inning, despite
having finished the final month of the regular season with a wRC+ of 8 (eight) across his final 21 games and 79 plate appearances. Austin Riley delivering a go-ahead, opposite-field homer after the wretched game and rough series that he had been having.
It’s the Postseason, folks. You’ve just got to expect the unexpected!
“That’s how it usually goes when these two teams play each other,” explained Weiss when he started off the press conference. “Just goes to show you that when the playoffs start, everything starts at zero. Nothing that happened in the regular season really matters and it’s a clean slate. Austin Riley has been a great player in the Postseason play.”
Obviously, the star of the show on this particular day was Riley, himself — though Chris Sale did draw a laugh out of the presser by playfully lamenting that he’d been asked the majority of the questions (and Riley fist pumped in response). When I asked Riley about what he was looking for in that particular moment against Jhoan Duran (especially with the shadows in play), he figured that he just needed to be ready for any potential mistakes and as it turned out, he got one (100-mph heat notwithstanding) right in the middle of the plate.
“You just try to push him out and push him up,” explained Riley. “You’re not going to get very many mistakes against those back-end guys. It was definitely tricky. You typically only get one [mistake] an at-bat and you can’t miss it and I was fortunate enough to put a good swing on it.”
This was yet another example of the Braves coming through in a late-game, high-leverage scenario at the plate. They’ve done it a ton of times this season (especially at home) and the fact that the Braves were able to come through in late in the contest was perhaps the least surprising development. I asked Walt Weiss a bit of a follow-up question to Matt Olson’s remarks on Workout Day about how the team has woven the late-game heroics “into their DNA” and Weiss agreed with Olson’s sentiments.
“I’ve said this before: I feel like when the stakes are highest and the challenges are the toughest, that’s when we’ve been at our best,” explained Weiss. “It’s been that way all year long. Whether it’s looking like we’re going to give away the division and then going on a run again, facing a rough road trip, coming back home and having to play the Dodgers and sweep ‘em, even going into Philly with the division on the line, we played well in those two series late in the season.”
“Our guys just rise to the occasion,” continued Weiss. “It’s a good group — I’ve been talking about the group all year. It’s a great room and this is what you get when you have that kind of heart and that kind of culture.”
Had the Braves not come through with some more heroics, the big talking point likely would’ve been Chris Sale being taken out in the seventh inning with one out and runners on the corners in favor of Didier Fuentes. When he was asked about it by the media, Weiss defended the decision.
“I thought Sale was outstanding,” started Weiss. “There in the seventh inning, I felt like [Sale’s] tank was emptying there and we had our best reliever [Fuentes] ready to go so I went and got Chris. [Fuentes] ended up giving up the two runs but I take [Didier] in that spot every time.”
When he was further pressed on what he saw during Sale’s final inning, Weiss continued to defend the decision. “I saw the stuff start to tick down a little bit,” explained Weiss. “The near-home run from [Bryce] Harper, the knock from [Bryson] Stott, the velocity was down and we had our best reliever ready to go for the bottom of their lineup.”
“I take [Didier] 99 times out of 100. Believe me: I give the longest leash for good reason. I’ve let him go this year and usually to the point where he’s got to give up the runs before I take him out but I just saw with my eyes that the stuff was ticking down and that the tank was empty.”
For what it’s worth, Chris Sale was totally behind the decision that his manager made in that moment. “We have faith and trust in each other,” explained Sale when he was asked by the media about being taken out for Fuentes. “Didier’s the right guy for that situation. I don’t think there’s anybody that’s watched our team play a single game this year that wouldn’t agree with that.”
“He felt bad about [giving up the run] and I said ‘Hey man, sometimes we need help too. That’s why this is a team game.’ That’s why you never feel out of it and you never point fingers. He’s saved this team countless times and when he gave up that run he was like ‘Man, my bad.’ I just said ‘Listen man, this is baseball, this is the Postseason, this is sports. Sometimes we need some help too.’
Sale himself was busy finding some serious heat while he was on the mound, as he once again reached 100-mph on the radar gun during this contest. It’s incredible to see him reach that mark during this season like he’s been doing recently — which is funny because all the way back in March, he stated that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d thrown that hard. I asked him about how it felt to be able to reach abck and find that at this stage in his career and as usual, Sale was effusive towards his personal supporting cast.
“I pride myself on my work ethic and determination,” started Sale. “I’ve said countless times and I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face: This isn’t me on my own. I have an incredible team in my corner. From the guys in the weight room to our training staff, the pitching coaches, the catchers — it takes a lot for that to happen. I’m just thankful to be in that position to be able to do that but again, there’s a lot of people propping me up to be able to accomplish that.”
As Sale mentioned earlier, it’s all about the team and it’s clear that this team is pulling in the same direction from all corners of the squad. Weiss mentioned during his press conference when he was asked about Riley’s makeup behind-the-scenes that “you couldn’t tell if he was the leading MVP candidate in the National League or if he was struggling. He’s the same guy everyday.” That’s the type of mentality that you need to succeed in such a mental marathon of a sport as baseball and clearly, it was Austin Riley’s turn to make a strong kick towards the finish line in this particular game.
There’s still one more win that the Braves need to nail down before they can start packing their bags for Los Angeles but at least they now have two more chances to do it — and to do so in front of their home crowd, no less. We’ll see what twists and turns pop up during Game 2 but for the time being, the Braves can rest easy on this particular even in knowing that they managed to snatch the upper hand out of nowhere. You never know who’s going to be a Postseason hero and it’ll be exciting to see who comes up big for Atlanta going forward during this playoff run.
