Phillies take early lead on Braves in Game 1; John Kruk jumps to NBC's wild-card booth; live updates

ATLANTA — Cristopher Sánchez was sitting among the relievers in the Phillies’ bullpen during Game 162.

He didn’t get called on — if he had, it would only have been in a true emergency situation — but it had been left-hander’s idea to head out there that day after catch play.

“I let [interim manager Don Mattingly] know early on that I was ready to go out there for an inning if they needed me,” Sánchez said through team interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “It's just an important game, so I was just ready to go in case they needed me. But I did let him know early on that I felt great and ready to go.”

The Phillies found a little bit of success against Chris Sale their last time out, scoring three runs in seven innings of a 6-5 loss on Sept. 11. In their previous five games against the Braves lefty, the Phillies had managed just four runs in 31 innings.

All three of those runs on Sept. 11 came on a bases clearing double by Derek Hill in the second inning. Not surprisingly, Hill is in the lineup for Game 1 on Monday.

“It doesn’t ever get easier with him,” Phillies manager Don Mattingly said a few hours before first pitch. “The more you see him, maybe you’ve also had some back and forth with pitches and counts and how he pitches you, so you have a little better feel for that. But that doesn’t really make it any easier.

ATLANTA – As much as the Phillies are unsure what to expect from Jesus Luzardo in Game 1, they can't predict how rookie starter Andrew Painter will fare if he's needed out of the bullpen either.

But it won't stop them from using him.

"I think you look at it and, is he one of our better guys?" interim manager Don Mattingly said. "That's just what I'm look at. And he's one of our better guys. He's been obviously starting all year long. He's got different pitches. Yeah, he's one of our better guys. It's hard to go to somebody else that, I don't want to use names, but somebody else over him that's not the same caliber."

ATLANTA – Upon announcing that Jesus Luzardo would start Game 1 for the Phillies, Don Mattingly quickly clarified.

"I should say open," he said.

The Braves aren't buying it.

Will Kyle Schwarber be back batting leadoff again this series?

Two moves reeked of panic to me over the weekend when the walls were closing in: starting Aaron Nola on two-days’ rest and moving Trea Turner to leadoff.

No Phils batter has hit first more in the last five years since Schwarber, who had been batting leadoff again this season since August. You want to change it up? Do it two weeks ago and not in the final weekend when everyone is talking about 1964. The offense has been at its best over the last five years when Schwarber is batting leadoff. There’s no reason to go away from that now.

The Phillies have won 88 or more games just 23 times in their 144-year history. And I can’t imagine any of those 23 seasons were more maddening than the last six months. Well, maybe that 1964 season was. But we don’t need to rehash that right now.

The Phils have given you enough reasons this month to doubt that they can win twice in Atlanta and keep this thing going. They still don’t have a cleanup hitter, the bullpen is thinner than the new-look Joel Embiid, they lost their second-to-last game of the season by 11 runs, and they’re carrying three catchers on their postseason roster. So it’s hard to be bullish on the Phils, who are countering Chris Sale with an opener in Game 1 on Tuesday (2 p.m., NBC).

But before you check out, remember that this Braves team actually seems beatable. Their bullpen is even stronger with the return of Robert Suarez but they lost two starters this month to injuries. The Phillies know what Ronald Acuna Jr. did in September but Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies, and Austin Riley each had an OPS in September less than .640. And the Braves have not won a playoff series since they won it all in 2021. Two of their last three October exits were at the hands of the Phils.

Game 1 is important in any postseason series. In a best-of-three, it’s imperative.

Since the wild-card miniseries was instituted in 2022, 11 of the 16 series ended in sweeps. Only one team has overcome a Game 1 loss to win the series, and the 2025 Yankees were playing at home against the Red Sox.

Most teams prefer to open the playoffs at home. But after a week from hell, in which they lost four games in a row amid a chorus of boos and only narrowly avoided an epic collapse, maybe it’s best for the Phillies to get away.

The Phillies' wild-card series against the Atlanta Braves won't air on NBC Sports Philadelphia, but that won't stop John Kruk from calling the game.

Kruk will part of a crowded broadcast on NBC that will feature play-by-play announcer Matt Vasgersian, fellow analyst C.J. Nitkowski, and Joey Votto serving as a pitching analyst. Ashley ShahAhmadi will report from Truist Park.

Tuesday's game will also feature Kruk squeezing back into a suit, a requirement for announcers calling MLB games on NBC.

In 2023, the Phillies came to Atlanta for a playoff series with their best two pitchers unavailable to start Game 1 against a record-setting offense.

So, they got creative.

It was difficult not to feel a twinge of déjà vu Monday, when Don Mattingly announced Jesús Luzardo will start — “I should say open,” he clarified — Game 1 of a best-of-three wild-card series against the Braves.

The vibes heading into the playoffs aren’t great, but longtime Phillies radio announcer Scott Franzke managed to offer something of a postseason pep talk directed at cynical fans prior to Saturday night’s loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

“You can pick whatever word you want for your feeling watching the Phillies baseball team these past few weeks. Maybe it’s frustrated. Maybe it’s angry. Maybe it’s exhausted,” Franzke said. “You feel that way because you’re a fan, and because you’re at your core a fan of this team. You still want them to win.”

Franzke has been through it all in his 21 season calling Phillies games, everything from a World Series win in 2008 to 99-loss season in 2015. Like fans across the Delaware Valley, he’s experienced the highs and lows of rooting for the Phillies.

This will be the first postseason to feature the automated ball‑strike (ABS) challenge system. That should benefit the Phillies, considering catcher J.T. Realmuto’s extreme success challenging balls and strikes.

As for other playoff rule changes, there will be no “ghost runners” during the postseason.

MLB’s designated runner rule puts a player on second base to begin each half-inning if a game is tied after nine innings. The rule was an attempt to preserve pitching staffs and avoid extra-long regular season games.