For the second time in as many seasons, the Atlanta Braves will face their division rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS. Philly dominanted the series last year and came up just short of a World Series title. Atlanta will be looking for revenge while the Phillies are hungry for it all.
From Opening Day of the 2023 regular season, the Braves ran away with the National League East. Atlanta finished the year at 104-58 while shattering both MLB and franchise records. The Phillies got off to a slow start and although they still finished 14 games out of first place, their 90-72 record is nothing to ignore.
During the regular season, these teams squared off 13 times, eight of those games were taken by the Atlanta Braves. Atlanta's impressive offense outscored the Phillies 74-58 in 2023. While it is always nice to have success against division opponents, none of that means a thing heading into Saturday.
In 2021, the Braves were fortunate to win the division with only 88 wins. Alex Anthopoulos made moves at the trade deadline to build the team for October and it paid off in a big way, by winning it all. Last season, the Phillies joined the playoff field as a NL Wild Card and made it all the way to the World Series before falling to the Houston Astros.
The series between the Braves and the Phillies is set to start on Saturday October 7th at 6:00 p.m. ET. For baseball fans across the world, this may be the most eletric matchup of all the divsion series. All eyes are on the Braves to see if they can carry their historic success into the postseason while the city of Philadelphia is ready to get behind their team and create the most eletric atmosphere possible in hopes to send the Phillies back to the fall classic.
The NLDS is here. The Braves are amped up, the Phillies are feeling good and fans cannot wait. October is for the A!