The Atlanta Braves are heading to Los Angeles and they’ve done so by finally getting one over on a Philadelphia Phillies ballclub that has been a thorn in their side for not just this season but for the past few seasons as well.
It’s a huge result for the Braves and one that’s made all the sweeter by the fact that this team’s core delivered in a big way. Michael Harris II got things going with his homer off of Aaron Nola in the first inning, Ozzie Albies gave the Braves some precious breathing room
off of Zack Wheeler in the fourth inning, Matt Olson came up huge with a dinger of his own in the seventh and then Chris Sale took it upon himself to go out and finish things off for the Braves in this one.
Apparently, Walt Weiss was prepared not to ask Chris Sale to go out there on two days rest. That was until he got an unexpected visit from Sale himself 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.”
“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.”
When Weiss was asked about what this means for Sale as far as the NLDS is concerned, he stated that he was managing in the moment and making sure that they locked down this Wild Card Series against their divisional rivals. “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.”
As far as the reaction from the Phillies go, it didn’t really come as much of a surprise to Phillies manager Don Mattingly that Sale ended up being available after all. I asked him about whether or not he felt the Phillies were ready for a potential Sale appearance (even with the idea that this was one of those ‘Johnny Wholestaff’-type games and he was straightforward in his answer. “ 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 other big story was the big performance of both Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II. Both of them had big series in this one and they came up huge in the clincher to put the icing on a solid series. They both also had some big moments against Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler, respectively, in the past — Ozzie has homered three times against Nola and Harris also has three dingers against Wheeler as well. They added two big Postseason homers to their tally and that respective matchup for both parties.
I asked Ozzie about how comfortable he was in that spot and he he talked about the preparation that goes into being ready for a spot like that. “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.”
Speaking of Mike, he had similar statements to make about what he was looking for. “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.
As I mentioned in the pregame article, the team was loose but still focused and of Michael Harris II proved it with what he revealed was the topic of the day in the clubhouse ahead of the elimination game. “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.”
Clearly, the fantasy football talk paid off and it was obvious that they were confident and locked in and ready to do damage against the Phillies. It’s huge to see this team finally get over the hump against a team that’s caused them so much frustration in the recent past and now they can hopefully continue getting it done against the Dodgers going forward. But for now, the Braves were clearly excited to get one over on a team that’s caused them so much grief recently.
“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.”
I also asked Walt Weiss about his thoughts on seeing the longest-tenured member of this ballclub set the tone in this series like he did, as Ozzie definitely performed and came up big in this one. “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 the “elder statesman” Ozzie Albies getting it done, to the hometown kid Michael Harris II going from being in the stands to performing on the field with the lights at their brightest and to Chris Sale taking it upon himself to go out there and perform on such short rest, it’s clear that everybody on this ballclub was willing to step their game up when it mattered the most.
There’s still a long and winding road left for the Braves to navigate if they want to keep on having champagne showers all through October but for now, this one feels really good. The Braves are heading to Los Angeles and considering how things have gone for them with their backs against the wall, who’s going to count them out? We’ll see what happens going forward.
