The National League Division Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies will now shift to the “City of Brotherly Love” all even at 1-1 following Atlanta’s dramatic come-from-behind 5-4 win on Monday night. And while the Braves avoided another shutout loss, offensive struggles seemingly plagued Atlanta for the second night in a row as they were held scoreless and hitless until the bottom of the sixth inning when an Ozzie Albies' single gave them their first run of the game plating Ronald Acuña Jr.
Add two, two-run home runs by courtesy of Travis d’Arnaud and Austin Riley and the Braves would go on to pick up the win. Comeback aside, there were just four total hits for an Atlanta team that averaged 9.52 hits per game. On Tuesday, during a conversation with ESPN’s Buster Olney, Steak Shapiro and Sandra Golden of The Steakhouse shared their concerns for the Braves, who now having to face a raucous crowd in Philadelphia.
“The Phillies crowd, I can tell you this, is insane. Right now, it’s the best crowd in my opinion in baseball. It’s so loud,” Olney told Shapiro and Golden adding that he believes that during the Phillies-Marlins series the noise of the crowd had an impact. However, the Braves should not be bothered. “I don’t think it’s going to have any impact on the Braves’ players, but it’s clear it does juice up the Phillies players."
And while the regular season not only saw the Braves win the series 8-5, Atlanta also won five out of the six games played at Citizens Bank Park. Olney believes that the two teams look to be in one of the biggest battles in the postseason.
“It’s does feel like we’re talking Ali-Frazier because at the end of that first fight, second fight between those two, it didn’t matter who won or loss, they both were incredible and that’s the way it feels like with these two teams,” the ESPN analyst told Shapiro and Golden.