Philadelphia Phillies (6) at Atlanta Braves (3), 2:08 PM ET

PHI: LHP Jesus Luzardo (14-5, 2.86 ERA, 66 DRA-), ATL: LHP Chris Sale (14-9, 2.16 ERA, 68 DRA-) 

Starters

Breaking news: Chris Sale is elite. It seemed for a moment he might even present a substantive challenge to Jacob Misiorowski for the NL Cy Young, and while he almost certainly didn’t get there, he might have done enough to syphon off a vote or two to prevent it being unanimous (probably not though). Sale delivered something near peak performance for the second time in three seasons, this time as a 37-year-old. It was astonishing, and a joy, to watch throughout the season, as Sale ferociously defied age and opposing lineups alike.

By now, you know the score when it comes to Sale: Over 80% of his offerings are either a four-seam fastball or a slider, and that percentage is just about even split between the two. Hitters have to decide whether it’s 96 mph from a funky slot or one of the nastiest wipeout sliders in baseball. Sale’s -1.7 StuffPro on his slider makes it one of the best offerings of its kind, but factor in how often he goes to it (40%) and it’s all the more remarkable. While the Philadelphia offense has been sluggish all season, they’ve been markedly better against righties, which is another advantage Sale provides the Braves against a sliding Phillies squad.

The Phillies present a more interesting wrinkle to Game 1 than Atlanta, though it’s not Sale’s fault that his excellence is par for the course at this point. They’ve announced that Jesus Luzardo will “open” the first game of the series after being activated on an emergency basis in Game 162, to throw a complete inning in all of four pitches (all fastballs). Luzardo has always tantalized in terms of talent, but only truly cashed that potential in after landing in Philadelphia and learning a sweeper that has become his best offering. But neither you, me, nor Don Mattingly knows what he’ll have to offer tonight—while he was on the IL until Sunday, it wasn’t that long a stint there, and his last outing before that was a complete game gem, so he might not require as much building up as you might think. What happens after Luzardo is an open question as well. The Phillies could opt to throw Aaron Nola—he of the two-days-rest start over the weekend—behind their starter/opener, or save him for a potential Game 3…unless they want to throw Zack Wheeler (Sunday’s starter) on three days rest in that one. Add the Mattingly-bullpen-management of it all into the mix, and it’s truly anyone’s guess. Mine? Andrew Painter is option number one behind Luzardo, and Mattingly rides both “starters” as long as possible to bridge to Jhoan Duran.

I mentioned the Phillies struggles against lefties (94 DRC+) in regards to Sale, but the Braves have similar problems (96 DRC+) with southpaws, which might have influenced Philadelphia’s decision to roll the dice on Luzardo.