One of the most important series of the regular season will be played this weekend at Citizens Bank Park. The Philadelphia Phillies will host the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves for a four-game wraparound series that could swing not just the division race, but also the race for a top-two seed in the National League and thus a Wild Card Series bye. Here are the NL East standings entering this weekend's series: "I love to play against Philly," Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. said ahead of the series (via MLB.com).
"This weekend, it's like playoff games. So let's see what happens in Philadelphia." Here are the details for this weekend's four-game series in Philadelphia. Select games can be streamed on fubo (Try for free).
LHP Cristopher Sánchez (16-4, 2.52) vs. LHP Chris Sale (13-9, 2.06) RHP Zack Wheeler (11-5, 3.31) vs. LHP Martín Pérez (8-8, 3.05) RHP Aaron Nola (6-10, 4.93) vs.
RHP Tyler Mahle (5-10, 4.25) LHP Jesús Luzardo (13-5, 3.02) vs. RHP Bryce Elder (8-8, 4.11) Friday will be Sale's third consecutive matchup with a fellow capital-A Ace. Last time out, he threw an 11-strikeout shutout and beat Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
In his start before that, Sale allowed two runs in six innings, but took the loss against Jacob Misiorowski. It seems likely Misiorowski, Sale, and Sánchez will finish in the top three of the NL Cy Young voting in some order. On paper, the Phillies have the starting pitching advantage this series, especially now that Nola has turned his season around.
Both teams had a scheduled off-day Thursday. They're going into this weekend with rested bullpens, or at least as rested as bullpens can get in the first week of September. After four grueling games, they'll all be on fumes come Tuesday.
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