MLB Playoff Picture 2023: Hot Takes and Top Storylines for Thursday's Schedule

The Atlanta Braves were the best team in baseball from April through September.

Unfortunately for them, there is an entire postseason to be played after that and following the Philadelphia Phillies' 10-2 rout of the NL East champs, they find themselves on the brink of elimination.

Starting pitcher Spencer Strider takes the mound for the Braves on Thursday and his previous encounters against the Phils, as well as Bryce Harper's encore of last season's magical playoff run, are the two biggest storylines to watch.

Phillies Stride Into Second Straight NLCS

Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images

ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 07: Spencer Strider #99 of the Atlanta Braves walks to the bullpen before Game One of the National League Division Series baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Truist Park on October 07, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images)

Braves ace Spencer Strider is 4-0 against the Phillies in 2023, with a 2.42 ERA and 38 strikeouts. He has been stellar against that particular team this season but those stats do not necessarily reflect his most recent work.

Even in the midst of a terrible season-closing month in which he gave up no less than three runs to opposing teams, there was an exception: a September 13 match-up against Philly in which he allowed just four hits and one earned run.

If the postseason has taught us anything, though, it is that these are not the same Phillies Strider encountered in three of his previous four starts. They are red-hot, seemingly rising as playoff pressure mounts.

Strider knows all too well what that looks like, having given up five earned runs a year ago to Philadelphia and compiling a 19.29 ERA in that lone match-up against the eventual National League champions.

He was infinitely better in their first match this postseason, though he still tallied the loss.

We know the Braves can hit the ball but their rotation has not allowed less than three runs in any game since September 13. That game, ironically enough, was against these same Phillies.

Strider has the stuff to deliver a dominant performance and send the series back to Atlanta for a pivotal Game 5 but this team, for all of the history it made in 2023, has done nothing to suggest it can slow their opponents' bats for the entire last month.

After Philadelphia put 10 runs on the board Wednesday, there is even less reason to believe optimistic about the NL East champs' ability to halt the momentum of their division foes and keep them from advancing to their second, consecutive NLCS.

Bryce Harper Sets Tone for Second, Magical Postseason Run

Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images

PHILADELPHIA, PA - OCTOBER 11: Bryce Harper #3 of the Philadelphia Phillies celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting a solo home run in the fifth inning during Game 3 of the Division Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday, October 11, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

In case you missed it, Bryce Harper is kind of a big deal in the playoffs.

Again.

After a quiet Wild Card series against the Miami Marlins in which he managed just a single hit, Harper exploded against the Braves.

Through three games, he has six hits, three home runs, a stolen base, and just two strikeouts. He has been the lifeblood for the Phils, who look as hot and ready to go on a World Series run as they did a season ago.

"He's built for these moments," Walker said. "We all knew when he showed up and didn't say a word. He was just locked in from right when he showed up. We just said, 'OK. He's going to do something crazy today.' And he did it twice. He almost did it three times," Phillies starter Tijuan Walker said of the franchise star after the game.

The last thing Harper needed was motivation, like a clubhouse quote from Orlando Arcia that earned him a staredown that will go down in Phillies lore as one of the defining moments in team history.

"You disrespect one of the great players in the game, it just adds fuel to his fire. Those guys a lot of times don't need more fuel to the fire. Because it's dangerous," starter Zack Wheeler told reporters after the game.

The game's best have always risen to the occasion when confronted with added motivation from opposing teams. Michael Jordan took plenty of things personally, as documented in his 2020 documentary, The Last Dance, so much so that he became an internet meme.

Tom Brady and Derek Jeter both echoed that sentiment in their respective documentaries, Man in the Arena and The Captain.

Harper is made the same way. He has already proven an ability to come through in the postseason, as evidenced by his performance a season ago, in which he hit six home runs and tallied 13 RBIs on 22 total hits.

He was the guy who fueled the Phillies to the World Series and is poised to be that guy again in 2023.

Regardless of whether opposing teams give him any additional motivation.