The Atlanta Braves are now just about halfway through a 13-game stretch of facing nothing but NL East opponents — including this Philadelphia Phillies team twice. Naturally, this seemed like the trickier proposition for the Braves to deal with since this was taking place in Philadelphia and they were dealing with a Phillies club that was desperate to get their season going in the right direction while also making a statement that they’d be nipping at the heels of the Braves sooner rather than later.
As it turned out, it was the Braves who made the statement. While Atlanta hadn’t dropped a series all season to this point, they still had yet to break out the brooms and establish real dominance over the course of a series. That changed after this weekend’s affairs, as the Braves picked a fantastic time to pick up their first sweep of the 2026 season. It’s one thing to sweep any other ballclub — it’s another to do it against the Phillies and in Philadelphia, no less. Let’s go ahead and take a look back at what ended up being a very lovely time for the Braves in Citizens Bank Ballpark.
Friday, April 17
Braves 9, Phillies 0
This was the perfect way for the Braves to start off this series, as Atlanta dominated this one from start-to-finish. The big story in this one was Austin Riley essentially picking up where he left off in that series win in Cobb County against the Marlins. He nearly had two dingers in that series finale, as one actually went over the fence and the other nearly went out but stayed in the stadium for a double. The ol’ bandbox in Philadelphia couldn’t contain Riley on this night, as he hit two bombs and plated four RBIs as he continued to make his presence felt for the Braves.
While the Braves were busy beating up on Taijuan Walker and the rest of Philadelphia’s pitching staff, the Phillies were unable to crack the code of Martín Pérez. The veteran hurler wrapped up a whirlwind week by going six innings and striking out four Phillies batters along the way. It was actually looking pretty shaky to start with for Pérez as he found himself in a bases-loaded situation in the very first inning but once he escaped that jam unscathed, it was relatively smooth sailing from there. Not even a one-out triple from Bryce Harper in the third could get Pérez to wobble.
Jose Suarez entered the game after Pérez was done and he ended up carrying the torch to the finish line as he covered the final three innings of this one. Winning a game 9-0 is very pleasing on its own merits. Winning 9-0, on the road, against a divisional rival and only having to use two pitchers in the process is worth its weight in gold, folks.
Saturday, April 18
Braves 3, Phillies 1
Right after the Braves got done shutting Philadelphia out with the unlikely-but-apparently-dynamic duo of Martín Pérez and Jose Suarez, it couldn’t have been a comforting thought for the Phillies knowing that their next trip to the ballpark meant that they’d have to contend with Chris Sale. Indeed, Sale ended up making life very difficult for Philadelphia’s lineup in this one as he finished up with just one run allowed on five hits while also striking out seven batters. The only blemish for Sale on the night came from Felix Reyes hitting a home run in the very fist at-bat of his major league career — outside of that, Sale did his job in ensuring that the misery continued for the Phillies.
That was as good as it got for the Phillies on the night, as they couldn’t figure out Sale and also had a devil of a time dealing with Dylan Lee and closer Robert Suarez — who closed this game out because Raisel Iglesias took the day off because he slept bad on his shoulder. As a 37-year-old, I can 100 percent relate to Raisel Iglesias being 36-years-old and having his day ruined because he slept funny. Brother, I feel you.
Anyways, the offense was delivered by Austin Riley (who is now on fire following his sluggish start to the season) and Mauricio Dubón. Riley’s luck has completely turned around because he plated one with an infield single that was hit basically in no-man’s land for the Phillies to effectively field. Mauricio Dubón continued to impress at the plate as his bloop RBI knock plated two runners in order to make it 3-1, which is how this game ended. If Chris Sale is on point, three runs is usually enough to get the job done and that was the case on Saturday.
Sunday, April 19
Braves 4, Phillies 2
We got another example of Walt Weiss putting his thumb on the scale when it comes to his bullpen decision-making. The Braves were clinging to the 4-2 lead (that eventually became the final score) in the fifth innings after they had pushed three runs across the plate in the top half of the inning in order to get to that point. Grant Holmes got into a situation where there was a runner on second with Kyle Schwarber set to come up to the plate. Instead of giving the Phillies a third crack at Holmes, Weiss made a shrewd decision to go to Aaron Bummer in order to get the final out of the fifth.
While Bummer did give up a double to Schwarber, he induced a ground ball that Austin Riley made a great play on in order to end the inning. Again, that decision ended up being crucial since the game ended up finishing 4-2. I’m not going to sit here and say that former manager Brian Snitker is a bad manager because that would be a lie but also I think we all know that this would’ve been handled differently if Snitker had been in charge. It’s likely that Snit would’ve kept Holmes in the game in order to let him get through five and qualify for the win. Instead of being loyal to a fault, Weiss decided to go with a fresh arm in that situation and the decision paid off. There are pros and cons to both approaches but if you’d rather see managers approach games with more of a sense of urgency then you had to have liked what you saw from Weiss in this moment.
Anyways. the fifth inning was certainly the decisive frame in this one. It started with the Braves loading up the bases down 2-1 (and running Andrew Painter from the game, who had been effective up until that point) and the game turned after Matt Olson collected an RBI on a groundout, Austin Riley legged out another infield RBI single to put Atlanta ahead and then Ozzie Albies delivered the double that gave them some cushion. The timely hitting and shutdown work from the bullpen helped ensure that Atlanta would leave Philadelphia with a satisfying sweep.
If last season’s start was the absolute nightmare scenario for the Atlanta Braves then this season’s start has been a dream start. Not only are they already eight games over .500 (as opposed to beginning the season seven games underwater), they’ve also gotten off to this hot start while everybody else in the division has been mediocre-to-bad. Having a five-game cushion already is pretty nice and being up 6.5 games on the Phillies and 8 games up on the Mets is pretty huge. I think we all know better than to start celebrating a divisional title in April but as far as opening up the season goes, the results couldn’t be more ideal for the Braves.
This might sound a bit silly or overcautious to say but the series-winning streak could very well be in jeopardy to begin this week. While the Nationals haven’t been in the best vein of form to get this season started (although it’s a pretty solid start for them relative to expectations), they have been hitting the ball pretty well so far and it’s always a tough ask of any road team to win a four-game series on the road. With that being said and when you consider how this Braves team is going at the moment, would you bet against them?
Either way, this is certainly an exciting start to the season for the Braves. Austin Riley is finally starting to heat up and look like himself, the pitching has continued to get the job done across the board, the defense has been lights-out (as you’ll see below) and there’s even help on the way in the form of Sean Murphy and Spencer Strider.
No matter how you slice it, the Braves are in a very good spot right now. They’ve started this 13-game NL East gauntlet with a 5-1 run and could potentially end this gauntlet by putting their divisional foes in a serious hole. We’ll see what happens going forward but for now, it’s time to have fun and enjoy this run. As we all know based on what happened last season, it certainly beats the alternative! Long may this strong run of form continue for the Braves, please.
