Braves good luck comes to an ill-timed end before Phillies series even starts

Somehow, against all odds, the Atlanta Braves are rolling. They’ve won 12 of their last 16 games including each of their last four. They just finished off a three-game sweep against the Minnesota Twins that saw their offense come to life.

They’re without several of their key contributors due to injury, but the Braves continue to find ways to win. Their winning ways not only have gotten themselves some much-needed breathing room in the NL Wild Card race, but it’s also thrust them back into the NL East hunt.

The Braves are now set to begin a crucial four-game series at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday sitting just 5.0 games back of Philadelphia. Obviously it’s still the Phillies’ division to lose, but if Atlanta can find a way to win or even split this series, things will be very interesting down the stretch with how these two teams have been playing lately.

While things have been going well for Atlanta lately, they did not catch a break schedule-wise. Chris Sale led them to a win on Wednesday, delivering six innings of one-run ball to add onto his tremendous Cy Young-caliber campaign, but Sale pitching on Wednesday means he’ll be unable to pitch at all in this huge series. Perhaps that’ll give the Phillies the break they need.

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Braves good fortune comes to unfortunate end with Chris Sale unable to pitch in crucial series

Even without Sale, the Braves do have a really strong staff. Charlie Morton, Reynaldo Lopez, Max Fried, and Spencer Schwellenbach are their probables, and with how they’ve pitched for most of this season, Atlanta is in good shape pitching-wise. Still, it would’ve been nice to have their ace on the mound, especially since the Phillies won’t be using Taijuan Walker.

Sale has had a resurgent year, posting a 2.58 ERA in 25 starts and 153.2 innings of work. That ERA leads the league, as do his 15 wins, 197 strikeouts, and 2.07 FIP. He’s the clear NL Cy Young favorite, and is arguably the main reason Atlanta is where they are in the standings.

The Braves have gone 18-7 when Sale has taken the ball, and have won each of his last four starts. Obviously it has helped immensely that he has allowed a total of five runs in those starts, and that kind of consistency will be missed in this series.

Somehow, Sale has only faced the Phillies once this season, but he gave up just two runs in 5.1 innings. The Braves did lose that game, but they’ve been winning mostly with Sale on the bump.

When right, the four starters that the Braves have scheduled are all capable of willing the team to victory. While that’s great, none of those starters come with the assuredness that Sale does.