The venue has changed and the intensity has gone up another notch as well, as the Atlanta Braves suddenly find themselves back at home and with home field advantage against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It’s a massive opportunity for the Braves — even though the task remains difficult against the two-time defending World Series Champions and the hero of the 2025 World Series, himself, Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Either way, the Braves are here for a reason and they’ve also got a big lever to pull in the form of a Chris Sale start in front of the hometown fans as well, so it’s definitely a situation where you feel like both teams have a really good shot at coming out of this ballpark with the crucial 2-1 advantage.
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“It’s going to be good TV. Two of the best in the game,” stated manager Walt Weiss when he was asked about the marquee matchup of Sale vs. Yamamoto. “I think that was a match-up this year, right? The 1-0 game. Probably more of the same, I would imagine. But two really good ones.”
When Weiss was asked about the grand pitching lan for this series, he continued to reiterate that he’s been taking things one game at a time. “I think it depends on some different certain circumstances, the state of your bullpen — obviously the focus is on winning that game that day,” explained Weiss as he discussed the extreme surface level details of his plan. “But it can change depending on your circumstances. Like in Game 1, we didn’t have a full bullpen. So going into that game, we knew we couldn’t chase from behind. Just couldn’t do it, because it would have left us shorthanded the next day if we had the lead. So we do what we did in Game 1 and Game 2 we had a full rack, and it allowed us to do the bullpen game.”
“It just depends on where you’re at at that particular point time,” continued Weiss. “You’ve got to be careful looking too far in front of the future because it’s a task at hand always. Obviously that happens a lot during the regular season. That’s part of the daily [routine] in the regular season. But in postseason most of the time you’re focused on that game. But every once in a while, because of the circumstances, you may have to think a little bit differently.”
It’s certainly been a different strategy for Walt Weiss to employ during this series but it’s one that has paid off to the point where the Braves now find themselves tied in the series with two games coming up in Cobb County. Although Rowdy Tellez will be starting this game from the bench, there’s always the chance that he could play a big role in any given game as a pinch-hittter and as such, his thoughts on what lies ahead are as valuable as anybody’s.
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When Tellez was asked about Sale and his preparation, he was very complimentary of the future Hall-of-Famer. “I think his ability to flip the switch. He’s pretty calm, mild mannered throughout the day. You hear a song come on and it’s, like, all right, it’s time to go,” explained Tellez as he talked about Sale getting prepared for any given game. “But to be that consistent for that long and be the same guy day in and day out, I think that’s pretty special. Once he gets on the mound, he’s going to give you everything you’ve got. And that gets the guys going, too, knowing that whatever he’s going to do we’re going to try to match his energy and bring whatever we can.”
Tellez doesn’t just have faith in his starter for Game 3, either. He’s feeling pretty good about Sale, Game 4 starter Tyler Mahle and the bullpen’s chances in general as well and expressed as such now that the series has switched venues. “Those are our 1-2. Anytime you can get to the 1-2 and have a chance to win both games it’s going to be huge,” stated Tellez. “Our bullpen has been electric. Obviously Ray [Kerr] went from stocking shelves to punching out Ohtani. So I think our bullpen has been lights out, and I think that’s huge for us going down the stretch and we’re able to save our arms.”
Again, it really can’t be stated enough just how massive of an opportunity this is for the Braves. Sure, it’s going to be tough against a Dodgers lineup that can go off at any given moment but the same could be said of the Braves and some of the hitters that they have to offer. It’ll certainly be a tough one but knowing how Sale usually rises to the occasion and how this team has always seemed to come up big in big-time situations, this seems like a golden opportunity for the Braves to do something special.
“I don’t think anybody’s believed [in the Braves] all the way through, outside this building,” exclaimed Weiss when he was asked about the team’s chances going forward. “As soon as we would slip, they’d just say, aha, I told you so. And then here we come again. That’s been the way the season’s gone.”
Hopefully Atlanta will take advantage of the opportunity and come up huge. We’ll see what happens!
