Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves Game 3 Betting Preview
After a wild finish on Monday, the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies will move their best-of-five series to Philadelphia for Game 3.
The Atlanta Braves came from behind and won 5-4, following the 3-0 Phillies win in Game 1. The Philadelphia Phillies are the fourth seed in the National League, as they finished with a 90-72 record during the regular season.
For Atlanta, they are the top seed in the National League. The Braves won 104 games. The Philadelphia Phillies are small favorites in this game. You can find the Phillies at -125 over the Braves.
Phillies Back Home
Aaron Nola gets the start for the home Phillies in this game. Nola was great in his wildcard round win over the Marlins. In that game, Nola went seven innings and allowed just three hits and struck out 3. During the regular season, Nola went 12-9 with a 4.46 earned run average. He threw just shy of 200 innings and struck 202 batters on the season.
Philadelphia got off to a great start in Game 2, as Alec Bohm drove in a run in the first inning. The Phillies knew they should have added more in those early innings, as they had many chances. They got a JT Realmuto home run, and Bryson Stott drove in a run in the fifth, but that was it. From that point on, it was all Atlanta.
Of course, the main cog in the Phillies lineup is Bryce Harper. Harper has had four hits in 12 bats through four postseason games this season. Harper hit a home run against the Braves in the Game One win.
Braves Never Give Up Pays Dividends
The Atlanta Braves‘ baseball style of never giving up on a game paid off big time on Monday. The Braves trailed 4-0 in the sixth inning and chipped away until the job was done.
Ronald Acuna Jr. scored runs in the sixth inning and then again in the eighth inning on the Austin Riley home run. Travis D’Arnaud also hit a big two-run home run to make the game 4-3 after 7.
Acuna, who is likely the National League MVP this season, has yet to get a hit this series but has done plenty of damage, being walked twice and getting hit by a pitch. He finished the regular season with a .338 batting average, 41 home runs, and 106 runs batted in for Atlanta.
As of this publication, the Atlanta Braves had yet to name a starting pitcher for this game. From all indications, it will be Bryce Elder. The 24-year-old went 12-4 during the regular season with an ERA of 3.81. Elder last threw on September 26th against the Cubs.
Braves Top Phillies to Take Series Lead
The Braves feel like they have all the momentum in this series. But momentum is only as good as the starting pitcher here. We look for this game to be a low-scoring one. The bullpens always play such a massive part of the postseason.
The mixing and matching that the managers do is quite interesting and can often be the difference in a playoff series. Here, we predict the starting pitching gets the job done, and it comes down to a big bat here or there. Like Monday, the Braves come through late and win this game, and move one win away from heading to the NLCS.
The bet we are making on Wednesday is the Atlanta Braves +105 over the Philadelphia Phillies. Enjoy the game, and best of luck with all your postseason bets!
