ATLANTA — The Phillies ended their postseason drought at 10 years only because MLB added an extra wild card this year. They were the lowest seed to make it through the wild-card round. The Phillies are up against the Braves in the National League Division Series. The defending World Series champions finished 14 games ahead of them in the NL East.
None of that mattered Tuesday afternoon at Truist Park. The Phillies took a lead in the first inning against Braves ace Max Fried and never gave it back. The Braves lost, 7-6, in the opener of the best-of-five series. The Phillies have top-notch starters Zack Wheeler (Game 2 on Wednesday here) and Aaron Nola (Game 3 on Friday in Philadelphia).
“Anytime you have Wheeler and Nola going, you feel good,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “But I think you also have to understand and respect what they have over there because they have some pretty good pitching.”
