Saturday evening at Truist Park the NL East rival Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves opened their best-of-five National League Division Series. This is a rematch of last year's NLDS, which the Phillies won in four games en route to the NL pennant.
This year the Braves won 104 games and had the best record in baseball, plus they swatted 307 home runs, 58 more than any other team. Power plays in October and Atlanta has plenty of it, though so do the Phillies. They hit 220 homers during the regular season, eighth-most in baseball, and that was with Bryce Harper's initial post-Tommy John surgery power outage.
You can view the full postseason schedule by clicking here, and here's the 2023 playoff bracket. Now, let's get to the important stuff for the NLDS.
Braves vs. Phillies schedule
Saturday, Oct. 7
Game 1: Phillies at Braves, 6:07 p.m. ET, TBS
Monday, Oct. 9
Game 2: Phillies at Braves, 6:07 p.m. ET, TBS
Wednesday, Oct. 11
Game 3: Braves at Phillies, 5:07 p.m. ET, TBS
Thursday, Oct. 12
Game 4 (if necessary): Braves at Phillies, 6:07 p.m. ET, TBS
Saturday, Oct. 14
Game 5 (if necessary): Phillies at Braves, 6:07 p.m. ET, TBS
How to watch Game 1
Date: Saturday, Oct. 7 | Time: 6:07 p.m. ET
Location: Truist Park (Atlanta, GA)
TV channel: TBS | Live stream: TBS app
Starting pitchers: RHP Spencer Strider (20-5, 3.86 ERA) vs. LHP Ranger Suárez (4-6, 4.18 ERA)
Live updates: Follow along
Braves vs. Phillies odds
Series odds: ATL -175 | PHI +150
Game 1 odds: ATL -205 | PHI +170 | O/U: 8.5
Preview
With all due respect to the Miami Marlins, the Phillies had a "taking care of business" vibe in the Wild Card Series. Everyone did their job to beat an inferior opponent, and at no point in the two-game sweep did it feel like Miami had the upper hand. The Braves, obviously, will be much tougher challenge, though they are without Charlie Morton (finger) and it's unclear what they'll be able to get from Max Fried (blister), if anything. The Braves are perhaps more vulnerable right now than they have been at any point this season.
Prediction
The Phillies are unique in that they're built better for a short postseason series than the regular season marathon. Even with Zack Wheeler unavailable until Game 2, I'm taking the Phillies in game that surprisingly isn't particularly close. Pick: Phillies 6, Braves 1.
