SAN DIEGO — A few days ago, there was a plausible path for the Braves through the National League wild-card round. Send out NL Cy Young Award favorite Chris Sale for the opener and win a low-scoring game. Ride the trend of every Game 1 winner of best-of-three wild-card series advancing to the Division Series.
That scenario went south when Sale was left off the wild-card roster because of back spasms. The Braves went to San Diego without a shutdown pitcher to help them steal a victory on Tuesday. It turns out even Sale probably wouldn’t have saved them. The lineup with several fill-ins couldn’t push across a single run against the Padres, who won 4-0 at Petco Park.
This Braves team overcame a long list of injuries to make it this far. They may have finally reached the breaking point. The Braves will try to become the first team to advance out of the best-of-three wild-card round after losing Game 1. That’s a lot to ask of them in their current state…