It was a hard-fought series between the Atlanta Braves and Phillies in the NL Wild Card. Luckily, Atlanta prevailed and punched their ticket to the NLDS, where the Dodgers await. While the Phillies were formidable opponents, the Dodgers are a much better team. It will take every player on Atlanta's roster if they want to move on to the NLCS. The Braves dominated the Dodgers in the regular season, but the playoffs are a different monster.
Starting pitching has been a strength for Atlanta in the playoffs thus far. However, their relief core has had some trouble limiting the Phillies from causing damage. Part of the problem was Atlanta carrying only 11 arms on the roster.
Braves have to address their pitching depth if they're going to have a shot at dethroning the Dodgers
That is not a great decision when at least 3 or 4 of those pitchers are reserved for starting roles. That leaves such little depth to work with, and with the Braves going with a bullpen game in their first dance with the Dodgers, they cannot afford to employ the same strategy. Furthermore, Walt Weiss can't use the same arms every single game. Over the first two games of the WC series, he used Didier Fuentes, Dylan Lee, and Raisel Iglesias, despite having other arms available on the roster.
Having Kerr and Holmes fresh for Game Three ended up being very important, but that can't be the plan this time. Fuentes and Lee have been very shaky in their opportunities so far. It's likely what led Weiss to use Sale to close out Game 3 for the Braves.
Lee has a 10.80 ERA over 1.2 innings, and Fuentes has a 3.00 ERA, but the Phillies had a .308 average against him. Fuentes also allowed a lot of hard contact in his outings. It's a shame to see either of them struggle, as they were both so good during the regular season. Lee fell off in the second half, and that's followed him into the playoffs.
Fuentes was a bit better in the second half, but having his first taste of the postseason has been a real test. The Braves simply need to provide Weiss with more options to work with and trust different guys in high-leverage spots.
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