Cristopher Sánchez stayed in the Phillies’ dugout a little longer than most after Tuesday’s 5-3 loss to the Braves, looking out toward the Truist Park mound where Philadelphia’s season will be placed in his hands the next afternoon.
The Phillies dropped the opener of the National League Wild Card Series and now face the familiar October arithmetic: win Wednesday, then win again if necessary. Sánchez gets the first chance to turn the series around in Game 2, scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
Only three of the previous 24 clubs to lose the first game of a best-of-three Wild Card Series have recovered to win it all: the 2020 Padres, the 2020 Athletics and the 2025 Yankees. Philadelphia needs to become the fourth, and interim manager Don Mattingly sees the starting pitcher as the place where any comeback begins.
“You always feel good when Cristopher is out there,” Mattingly said. “The playoffs can be driven by momentum, and that usually begins with the starter.”
Sánchez has given the Phillies plenty of reasons to trust him. After finishing second to Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes in last season’s National League Cy Young voting, the left-hander followed with another front-of-the-rotation year. He finished second in the league with 231 strikeouts, ranked second with 207 innings and posted a 2.91 ERA, sixth-best in the NL. His season also included a 50 2/3-inning scoreless streak, with no runs allowed throughout May.
None of those numbers erase the road question awaiting him in Atlanta. Sánchez went 12-3 with a 2.23 ERA over 19 home starts this year, following a 6-0, 1.94 ERA home mark last season. Away from Citizens Bank Park, he was 6-4 with a 3.87 ERA in 2026. His career ERA sits at 2.60 at home and 3.92 on the road.
Still, Sánchez’s approach is not changing with the Phillies down a game. Through interpreter Diego D’Aniello, he said his job is to compete, post as many zeroes as possible and give the club a chance to play from in front.
“It’s about staying calm and staying focused when it is time to go out there,” Sánchez said. “We have to keep our attention on what we do on the field.”
A familiar opponent, a new October assignment
Atlanta is no mystery for Sánchez. He has appeared against the Braves nine times in his career, making eight starts, and four of those outings have come across the past two seasons. He has yet to beat them, carrying an 0-5 record into Game 2, but the supporting work has been better than that record suggests. His ERA against Atlanta is 3.26 overall and 2.19 in four meetings since the start of last season.
The challenge is concentrated in the middle of the Braves’ order. Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Austin Riley have combined to go 28-for-72 against Sánchez, a .389 average. On a short-series afternoon, there will be little room for an early stumble.
Kyle Schwarber noticed what Sánchez was doing after Game 1, standing in the dugout and studying the field rather than immediately heading inside with the rest of the club. To Schwarber, it looked like a pitcher already preparing for the next turn.
“He was looking out there at the mound,” Schwarber said. “I think he understands what is in front of him tomorrow.”
That task is straightforward, even if it is not simple: slow down Atlanta, keep Philadelphia’s season from ending and hand the Phillies a path to one more game. Schwarber called Sánchez “our guy,” and for one October afternoon in Atlanta, that is exactly what he must be.
