Atlanta survives wild Monday to face rested and ready San Diego in playoffs
Padres manager Mike Shildt looks on during a Monday workout ahead of Tuesday’s WIld Card Series matchup with the Braves at Petco Park. On one side of the country Monday, the Atlanta Braves showered off the champagne and beer after 18 innings of being crammed into the physical and emotional equivalent of a cement mixer.
For the other, the Padres, the opposite of everything the team that fought off the Mets in the second game of a doubleheader to salvage its playoff life faced. Advantage, Padres. Clearly. Obviously. Without question. In ways almost too numerous to list. They stared at the longest of odds in a wild-card series, traveling to face the 101-win Mets and dual aces Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom with all three games under the searing lights of neighboring New York.This time, though, the edge is exponentially bigger. Not only did the Braves play a day after the rest of baseball unlaced its cleats, they played with the pressure of a season on the line with no off day as a reward before the playoffs cranked the volume knob to 11.
It needed a hurricane, Helene, to delay a pair of critical games beyond the final Sunday. This was not a stunning baseball phenomenon alone, but a meteorological one as well. If you’re a Padres fan, you see the myriad advantages. If you’re a Braves fan, you see a team riding a wave. In the end, both might be right.
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