Facing elimination, Braves turn to Strider: 'He’ll relish it'

PHILADELPHIA -- The Braves understand more than anyone how difficult it’s been to walk into Citizens Bank Park and leave with a victory in the postseason. And they received a swift reminder of that tall task Wednesday night in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, finding themselves on the wrong end of a 10-2 thumping from the Phillies and teetering on the brink of elimination with a 2-1 deficit in the series.

But if you ask the Braves’ players and staff about their level of confidence, much of it hinges on who’s slated to take the bump for a win-or-go-home battle on Thursday night -- 20-game winner Spencer Strider.

“I think he’ll relish it,” manager Brian Snitker said. “I think he was very excited to get that opening start in the playoff round. And I think he’ll be excited, prepared and ready for the start tomorrow.”

There’s a heightened sense of familiarity between Strider and the Phillies. His eight career regular-season starts against Philadelphia are tied for his most against any team, and the only two postseason outings of his career have also come against the Phils. Strider, understanding that it’s just the nature of intradivisional rivals and the luck of playoffs draw, doesn’t put much stock into their shared history.

“I have been asked about it before,” Strider said. “I feel like with the Phillies so many times, it kind of comes up. With any team, it’s the same. I think you stick to your strengths. And there's sort of an element of randomness that makes it difficult to look too heavily on past outings or past performances, just because you don't know what's going to happen.”

But if you’re the Braves searching for an avenue for positivity in a must-win game in Philly, the best place to look is Strider’s track record against the Phillies. In those eight regular-season outings, Strider is 8-0 with a 1.90 ERA, a .151 opposing batting average and a .450 opposing OPS.

In his Game 1 loss, Strider only allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits over seven innings, striking out eight while walking two. His 22 swings and misses were the third most in a postseason outing of 95 or fewer pitches under pitch tracking (since 2008).

The start partly shelved the sour memories of Strider’s first career postseason start against the Phillies in 2022, when he was unable to make it out of the third inning of Game 3 of the NLDS at Citizens Bank Park -- his first start in four weeks due to a strained left oblique.

While it’s tempting to give credence to the pressures of Philly’s home-field advantage, there’s a resounding feeling around both clubhouses that this version of Strider is a completely different one than the previous year’s version.

“Strider is tough, man,” Bryce Harper said. “He's one of the best in baseball. Possible Cy Young this year. I don't know if I've ever said that about a pitcher or anything like that.”

“We trust his stuff versus anybody,” Travis d’Arnaud said of the Braves’ confidence level in their 24-year-old ace. “He’s got that explosive fastball, devastating fastball and his changeup is coming along, too. I think he’s been really good at mixing and matching pitches.

“We won 20 games with him on the mound, we’re all very confident with him out there.”

Strider went 2-0 in his two regular-season starts in Philadelphia, giving up two runs while recording 18 of his single-season franchise-record 281 strikeouts. But as so many have noted before, Citizens Bank Park transforms into a much more volatile atmosphere for the postseason.

After the Game 3 blowout, the Braves certainly have an uphill battle, needing to string together back-to-back wins to keep their season alive. Snitker believes Atlanta is set up to give itself the best possible chance with Strider set for Game 4 and Max Fried slated for a potential Game 5 on Saturday night in Atlanta. And with their season on the line, who better to give the ball to than a flamethrower looking for retribution?

“I think there’s a sense of what happened last year [for him],” Austin Riley said. “And he’s looking forward to getting back and showing what he’s made of. He’s had a really good year, nothing more you’d want than having him on the mound.”

Near the closing moments of the Game 3 loss, the sold-out Philly crowd gave the Braves a parting gift back to their hotel, filling the air with “We want Strider” chants. The players could hear them, it’d be impossible not to. But that type of adversarial atmosphere is one the rest of the Atlanta's players and staff believe Strider craves, a setting he’s always dreamed about pitching in.

“When I was a kid, I was out in the front yard, just pretending I was pitching in the World Series,” Strider said. “I think that's kind of what a lot of kids' journeys are like. … You're always preparing or visualizing yourself in the biggest games in the biggest moments. The energy and the adrenaline is good for you, if you can harness it. So it's exciting.”