NLDS Preview: Braves vs Phillies

The FanGraphs Newsletter, October 6, 2023 [READ IN BROWSER]( October 6, 2023 The Phillies summarily dispatched the Marlins in two games this week in the wild card round, setting up a rematch with the Braves in the NLDS. On paper, Atlanta is the superior team, one that topped the majors with 104 wins this season and won the NL East by 14 games over Philadelphia. But playoff series aren’t won on paper, and baseball is the coin-tossiest of the major sports; its playoffs aren’t about crowning the best team, but the winning team — two correlated yet different things. The Braves had a 14-win advantage over the Phillies last year, too, and that didn’t keep Philadelphia from sending Atlanta back home on a midnight plane to Georgia in four games. The Phillies could easily do it again. The Phillies didn’t come away with a championship in 2022, but anyone claiming that they had an unsuccessful season should have their pants checked for fire-related damage. Knocking out the Braves ought to have given them significant satifaction last year, given how Atlanta had come out on top in recent seasons. Both teams spent much of the mid-to-late 2010s in rebuilding processes, but the Braves had considerably more success; their 2022 playoff appearance was their fifth in as many seasons. Philadelphia, on the other hand, had trouble developing impact players at the rate Atlanta did; 2022’s postseason run was the franchise’s first in 11 years. So how will the rematch go? Let’s start with the current projections: [NLDS Preview: Braves vs Phillies,]( [by Dan Szymborski]( [ALDS Preview: Minnesota Twins vs. Houston Astros]( The Twins banished their bad postseason vibes against the Blue Jays, but they now have to face the Astros in the ALDS. | by Jake Mailhot [ALDS Preview: Baltimore Orioles vs. Texas Rangers]( These two teams took very different routes to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. | by Jay Jaffe [NLDS Preview: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Arizona Diamondbacks]( It's an NL West showdown as the desert upstarts face divisional royalty. | by Ben Clemens [Managerial Report Cards: NL Wild Card Losers]( Craig Counsell managed his bullpen as precisely as always, but he made some strange hitting decisions, while Skip Schumaker simply ran into both an unstoppable force and an unmovable object. | by Ben Clemens [DOWNLOAD THE FANGRAPHS APP]( [FanGraphs & Effectively Wild Merch Is Now Available at BreakingT!]( [ORDER HERE]( [Jeff Passan ranks the ALDS and NLDS teams]( via ESPN ($) [13 free agents whose stock could rise in the postseason]( by Mark Feinsand, MLB [Burning Questions for Every 2023 World Series Contender]( by Nate Kosher, Pitcher List [MLB’s best playoff ballparks: Ranking the most raucous places from replaceable to Phanatical]( via The Athletic ($) [@fangraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [RSS]( [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2023 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 1200 N Hartford St. Apt 312Arlington, Va 22201 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](