Braves turn to Chris Sale with chance to seize NLDS lead over Dodgers

ATLANTA -- Chris Sale understands the weight of October. Given the circumstances, he knows exactly what Tuesday’s Game 3 of the National League Division Series means.

He knows how important it is to show the version of Chris Sale expected to finish runner-up in National League Cy Young Award voting. And he knows the Atlanta Braves’ World Series hopes could rest in his hands.

With the series tied 1-1 and shifting to Atlanta for Games 3 and 4, the Braves have a real chance to knock off the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. That is why Sale made it clear to manager Walt Weiss that he was willing to pitch in Games 1 or 2 in Los Angeles, despite pitching out of the bullpen Thursday in the Wild Card Series-clinching win over Philadelphia.

“I told (Weiss) I was available. I told him even if they needed me for Game 1 -- which I knew was probably a stretch -- I felt confident in my ability to go out there and be able to perform at a high level,” Sale said. “I really felt confident in myself in starting Game 2. I reiterated that plenty of times to them. Again, this is a team game. This isn’t about me, this isn’t about one guy.

“You get to this time of the year, and again, it’s all hands on deck. It’s everybody doing everything they can to get one out, to get a run, to get a base runner. I think that’s who our team is and that’s what everybody in here is willing to do.”

When Sale takes the mound Tuesday at Truist Park, it will have been exactly a week since he threw 6 1/3 innings in Atlanta’s Game 1 Wild Card Series win over Philadelphia.

Weiss then called on Sale two days later to close out the series, a decision that took him out of the mix to start either of the first two NLDS games in Los Angeles. Both became bullpen games, despite speculation that Sale could take the ball in Game 2.

Weiss received some backlash, to say the least. The Braves dropped Game 1 and could not afford to fall into an 0-2 hole in a best-of-five series. But Atlanta bet it could win Game 2 without Sale, then turn to a fully rested ace for Game 3 at home.

The bet paid off. Atlanta’s third straight bullpen game, anchored by another stellar outing from unlikely hero Ray Kerr, resulted in a 3-2 win.

Series tied. Brand new ballgame.

Sale will start Game 3 on five days’ rest when measured from his last start, not counting his brief relief appearance Thursday. The only starts he made on regular rest this year were his second and third of the regular season.

That is about as ideal a scenario as the Braves could have hoped for as they try to reach the National League Championship Series for the first time since their World Series-winning season in 2021.

“If you have Sale in Game 2 and Game 5, as people were screaming about, we saw it as you’re getting a diminished Chris Sale twice at that point. We wanted to get a full-strength Chris Sale, and that’s Game 3. Then possibly impacting the game in Game 5 like we saw in the Phillies series,” Weiss said. “That’s what it came down to. We didn’t want to have a somewhat diminished Chris Sale twice because it would have been -- it was regular rest, but he had the outing in between, and it just didn’t make sense to us.

“In the end, yeah, as we sit here today, it’s the best-case scenario that we could possibly have. Now we win the game, we win the bullpen game, and now we have a fresh Chris Sale ready to go.”

And that he does.

With Sale set for Game 3, Tyler Mahle, who threw seven innings of one-run ball in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series on Wednesday, is lined up to start Game 4.

Does that rule Sale out for a potential winner-take-all Game 5 in Los Angeles on Friday?

Absolutely not.

For now, though, Sale’s focus is Tuesday and a rematch with Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Braves would take a repeat performance Tuesday. They will need something close to it against Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who led the club with 28 starts while posting a 2.53 ERA and 182 strikeouts over 185 innings this season.

It is also a rematch of that Aug. 27 pitching duel. Sale threw the complete-game shutout, while Yamamoto allowed one run over 6 1/3 innings, striking out eight and walking one.

Yamamoto also proved last postseason he can handle a heavy workload. He became the first pitcher in Dodgers franchise history — and the 14th in MLB history — to earn three wins in a single World Series. He capped his World Series MVP run by throwing 2 2/3 scoreless relief innings to close out Game 7 on no days’ rest.

It should be a fun one.

“This is playoff baseball,” Sale said. “That’s a helluva team across the way. I’m just preparing for another grind. I’m preparing for another battle and just got to go leave it all on the field. However it shakes out, that’s how it shakes out.”