October baseball for Atlanta begins with Ray Kerr on the mound for Game 3 vs. Phillies

In a year where the (not particularly inspiring) tagline for playoff baseball is “No Time Like October”, only one out of four Wild Card series made it to today, the actual first day of the month. Aren’t we so lucky that it was Braves vs. Phillies? /s Two games into the postseason and three sweeps la

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In a year where the (not particularly inspiring) tagline for playoff baseball is “No Time Like October”, only one out of four Wild Card series made it to today, the actual first day of the month. Aren’t we so lucky that it was Braves vs. Phillies? /s

Two games into the postseason and three sweeps later, the Padres, Yankees, and papally-blessed White Sox have punched their tickets to the next round. The swift eliminations of the Cubs, Red Sox, and Astros means the singular scenario for a night game at Truist

Park has come to fruition.

Tonight’s winner-take-all game will decide which NL East team will board the plane to Los Angeles for the weekend to play in the National League Division Series, aiming to deny the two-time defending World Series champions their shot at a three-peat.

Doesn’t it feel like it was always destined to come down to this? A pair of divisonal rivals, with fanbases that passionately hate each other, both trying to dispell a miasma of past playoff failures. Apparently, this makes for tremendous baseball for those without a specific rooting interest or stake in it.

Unfortunately, we here at Battery Power are rooting very hard for the home team. And we would do pretty much anything to trade exciting and entertaining baseball for easy and comfortable victories. But if you’ve been following the team this season, you know they like to do things the hard way. So here we are.

The Atlanta Braves will send Ray Kerr to the mound to start for Game 3. Kerr returned to the majors on August 16 after missing two years due to Tommy John surgery and long rehab process. The lanky lefty is capable of multiple innings and had a 1.47 ERA and .600 WHIP in nine games.

Kerr faced the Phillies for a solid third of his 18.1 innings pitched in the regular season. His two outings were as follows:

September 5: 3.1 innings of one-hit ball (a single by Kyle Schwarber) and one strikeout
September 13: 3.0 innings of one-hit ball (a double by Bryce Harper) and four strikeouts

In the latter game, Kerr relieved starter Grant Holmes. The roles will reverse today; we can expect Holmes to follow for the bulk of the innings. A Braves bullpen unit that has been so strong all year faltered yesterday afternoon, but it is likely that all hands will be on deck to get all 27 outs tonight.

The Phillies are in the same mode and will counter with right-hander Aaron Nola. He is their most-rested option, but Zack Wheeler, Game 1’s starter Jesús Luzardo, and yesterday’s winning pitcher Andrew Painter are all also on the table. Closer Jhoan Duran was unavailable yesterday, and his status for tonight is not yet known.

The Braves are very familiar with Nola, of course. He has a 4.50 ERA in three starts against the team in 2026. He last pitched in Saturday for the pentultimate game of the regular season on short rest, lasting one inning after allowing three runs on four hits on 21 pitches.

It would be great to see the team in the home uniforms be the ones to Let It Fly – the leaders in home runs off Nola are Austin Riley with 7, Matt Olson with 5, and Ronald Acuña Jr. with 4.

Welcome to October. Who will shine brightest under the Truist Park lights?