The postseason starts at 2:00 p.m. ET with two of the best left-handers in the National League.
Jesús Luzardo and Chris Sale open the wild card round at Truist Park, and the loser of this series is done in three days.
How to watch
Phillies at Braves, NL Wild Card Game 1
Tuesday, Sept. 29 — 2:00 p.m. ET
Truist Park, Atlanta
TV: NBC, free over the air with an antenna
Spanish: Universo
Streaming: Peacock, which carries both feeds
Radio: 680 AM and 93.7 FM The Fan in Atlanta, with Spanish on La Mejor 1600, 1460 and 1130 AM. 94 WIP in Philadelphia, Spanish on 106.1 Rumba. ESPN Radio nationally.
Matt Vasgersian calls it with John Kruk and C.J. Nitkowski, Joey Votto on the broadcast and Ashley ShahAhmadi reporting.
Tickets have been available from around $24.
Probables: LHP Jesús Luzardo (14-5, 2.86) for Philadelphia, LHP Chris Sale (14-9, 2.16) for Atlanta.
Lineups
Philadelphia: Trea Turner SS, Kyle Schwarber DH, Bryce Harper RF, Alec Bohm 1B, Derek Hill CF, Bryan De La Cruz LF, Bryson Stott 2B, Edmundo Sosa 3B, J.T. Realmuto C.
Atlanta: Drake Baldwin C, Ronald Acuña Jr. RF, Matt Olson 1B, Mauricio Dubón LF, Michael Harris II CF, Ozzie Albies 2B, Austin Riley 3B, Mike Yastrzemski DH, Ha-Seong Kim SS.
Harper is in right field rather than at first, with Bohm at first and Sosa at third.
The pitching matchup
Sale is 37 and had the better year. A 2.16 ERA, 200 strikeouts in 162⅔ innings, a 196 ERA+ and 5.5 WAR — the best figure on either staff. He walked 31 batters all season.
Luzardo was born in Lima, Peru and raised in Florida. He's 14-5 with a 2.86 ERA, 221 strikeouts and an 11.1 strikeout rate, and his 6.5 WAR trails only Cristopher Sánchez among Phillies pitchers.
Philadelphia is holding Sánchez, who went 18-7 with a 2.91 and led the staff at 8.1 WAR, and Zack Wheeler for later in the series.
The teams
Atlanta is 94-68 and the No. 3 seed. Philadelphia is 88-74 and got in on the final day of the season, clinching the last wild card after nearly giving away a six-and-a-half game lead.
Higher seed hosts all three games. Atlanta doesn't leave Truist Park.
Who to watch for Atlanta
Michael Harris II had the best season on the roster — .294 with 26 home runs and 5.1 WAR in center field. Matt Olson hit 41 home runs. Drake Baldwin, the 25-year-old catcher, hit .284 with 25 homers, made the All-Star team and leads off today.
Ronald Acuña Jr. played 107 games and hit 20 home runs with 21 stolen bases.
Raisel Iglesias, the Cuban closer, saved 34 games with a 2.55 ERA. Didier Fuentes, the 21-year-old Colombian right-hander, threw 73⅓ innings out of the bullpen with a 2.45 ERA and 92 strikeouts.
Who to watch for Philadelphia
Bryce Harper hit .269 with 29 home runs and 107 walks. Kyle Schwarber hit 45.
Jhoan Durán, the Dominican closer, had a 1.82 ERA with 33 saves and struck out 12.7 per nine.
Luis Arraez didn't make the wild card roster after spraining his ankle last week. Otto Kemp did, despite hitting .080 in 25 at-bats this season. Philadelphia is carrying three catchers.
J.T. Realmuto hit .205. Trea Turner hit .242 with negative WAR and leads off. This is a lineup carrying two stars and a lot of question marks.
Eight countries on the field
Atlanta starts Ronald Acuña Jr. from Venezuela, Ozzie Albies from Curaçao, Mauricio Dubón from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and Ha-Seong Kim from South Korea. Raisel Iglesias is Cuban, Didier Fuentes Colombian, Martín Pérez Venezuelan.
Philadelphia starts Edmundo Sosa from Panama and Bryan De La Cruz from the Dominican Republic, with Luzardo born in Peru. Cristopher Sánchez and Jhoan Durán are Dominican, José Alvarado and Rafael Marchán Venezuelan, Adolis García Cuban, Alex McFarlane from the U.S. Virgin Islands.
About that 2 p.m. start
The weekday afternoon first pitch has drawn complaints. Afternoon playoff baseball isn't new — Game 7 of the 1960 World Series started at 1 p.m. on a Thursday — but three of Tuesday's four games start before 8.
The rest of Tuesday
White Sox at Astros, 5:00 p.m. ET — Peacock and NBC Sports Network
Red Sox at Yankees, 8:00 p.m. ET — NBC and Peacock. Aaron Judge is off the roster with a calf injury.
Cubs at Padres, 10:00 p.m. ET — Peacock and NBC Sports Network
Division series begin Saturday, Oct. 3.
Lineups, probables, broadcast details and statistics via MLB and Baseball Reference. Announcer assignments via Awful Announcing.