Braves host Phillies in Wild Card opener after winning division
Atlanta finished ahead of Philadelphia in the National League East and is scheduled to open the series at Truist Park, with Chris Sale and Jesús Luzardo named as the likely starters.
The Atlanta Braves are scheduled to host the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of their National League Wild Card series at Truist Park on 29 September. The opener begins the playoff round between two division rivals whose regular-season results favoured Atlanta.
Atlanta won the National League East with a 94–68 record, while Philadelphia finished second at 88–74. The Braves also won the teams’ regular-season series 9–4, according to CBS Sports.
CBS Sports reports Chris Sale is set to start for Atlanta and Jesús Luzardo for Philadelphia. Luzardo has pitched one inning since 7 September because of shoulder inflammation, the report says.
Atlanta is listed as the betting favourite, with the total set at 6.5 runs. SportsLine’s model projects 7.3 combined runs and predicts the total will go over in 57 per cent of its simulations.
Philadelphia won the teams’ National League Division Series matchups in 2022 and 2023. The available source material provides pregame schedules and projections, but no result for the 2026 opener.
