The Atlanta Braves are facing the Philadelphia Phillies tonight in a matchup of the team aces. In arguably the biggest matchup so far this year, the 7-2 Phillies will bring 2024 Cy Young Award runner up Zack Wheeler to the bump to face 2024 Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale.
Zack Wheeler has been fantastic so far this year in his two starts. He has a 1.38 ERA, eighteen strikeouts and 0.538 WHIP over 13.0 innings. Chris Sale has struggled in terms of ERA with a 5.40 in his two starts, but everything else has been solid. He has a 1.100 WHIP and twelve strikeouts to only one walk. His FIP has been a 2.87 and his expected ERA (xERA) has been a much better 2.29.
Understandably, most of the Braves have struggled against Wheeler and many of them have a large sample size against him as well. Ozzie Albies has two HRs against Wheeler, but in forty-seven at-bats he has a .149 average and .503 OPS. It is pretty much the same story for Marcell Ozuna with two HRs, but in fifty-four at-bats he has a .185 average and .566 OPS.
Arguably the two best performers against Wheeler have been Austin Riley with a .250 average and .736 OPS over forty at-bats and Matt Olson with two HRs with a .712 OPS, but his OPS is heavily weighted by walks because he has a .192 average. Olson has twenty-six at-bats against him.
Jarred Kelenic has a much smaller sample size of five at-bats, but has been successful thus far with a .400 average and 1.000 OPS.
Chris Sale has not seen the players on the Phillies nearly as much as Wheeler has seen the Braves. Nick Castellanos has forty-three at-bats against Sale, but no other player has more than six. Nick Castellanos has struggled to a .541 OPS against Sale.
Only three Phillies have an OPS over .667 against Sale. Alec Bohm has a .900 OPS in five at-bats, Max Kepler has a 1.000 in four at-bats, and Kyle Schwarber has a .834 OPS in six at-bats.
Needless to say, those who like a pitchers dual and low scoring games will likely enjoy this game. The key for the Braves will be to get to Zack Wheeler early because he is known for going deep into games. Obviously the Braves will need to get better with runners in scoring position. They have the second lowest average in MLB with a .193. If they can turn that around against the Phillies they have a chance to make a statement.
With already being six games behind the Phillies, a win tonight against one of the best pitchers of this generation could be a big boost to team morale that could hopefully swing the momentum in the Braves’ favor.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Tuesday, April 8, 7:15 p.m. EDT
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
TV: FanDuel Sports South, Southeast. TBS (out-of-market only)
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
