The day off is over and now it’s time for the Atlanta Braves to get going in September. After losing a tough four-game series to the Phillies, it’s time for Atlanta to put that behind them and focus on solidifying their Wild Card position when they return home to face the Colorado Rockies.

Chris Sale starts tonight, which is always good news for the Braves, as he has not only been Atlanta’s best starter this season, but the best starter in baseball so far. Assuming nothing crazy happens between now and the end of the regular season, he will very likely take home the NL Cy Young Award, and it’s impossible to say he doesn’t deserve it. Since that inexplicable start where he allowed eight runs in four innings against the A’s, Sale has made fourteen starts where the most earned runs he’s allowed in any of those games was two. In eight of those starts, he’s struck out at least nine batters. The most batters he’s walked in a start this season was three. He’s just been focused all season, and suffice it to say, no team goes into a game with Sale absolutely dying to see him.

That’s especially the case with the Rockies, who enter this game with the second-worst team wRC+ in baseball — both overall (83) and on the road (78). While we’ve gotten a glimpse of what this offense is capable of when playing at Coors Field, this offense is (as usual) a whole different caliber when playing it outside of Denver. The Rockies as a team are hitting .220/.279/.364 with a wOBA of .281 and the aforementioned team wRC+ of 78. Needless to say, it would be a huge surprise if the Rockies came here and rocked Chris Sale. With Sale being such a strong contender and the Braves in the midst of an intense battle for a postseason spot, I expect another great performance from Sale tonight.

Therefore, the Rockies will be counting on Kyle Freeland to keep Atlanta’s lineup quiet in this game. While that’s certainly possible, as the current incarnation of the Braves always has a tendency to fall asleep at the plate against any pitcher, the Braves will definitely have to be wary, as Freeland hasn’t been bad in his last two starts. On August 23, he entered the seventh inning against the Yankees and allowed just three runs (two earned), and on August 28, he pitched six innings, allowing just two runs against the Marlins.

However, the Padres did give him five runs in five innings on August 17, and then of course the Braves ran him out of the game in the fourth inning when they saw him again on August 11. That start was the second of four straight starts where he allowed at least three runs to the other team. Freeland isn’t particularly dominant, and I wouldn’t expect him to suddenly turn in his best performance of the season tonight. He comes into this game with a 117 ERA, a 108 FIP, and a 105 xFIP. The Braves will have to come up with something tonight against this guy.

Still, as both teams have shown us in the recent past, anything can happen in baseball. Kyle Freeland could be the last pitcher to completely confound the Braves’ hitters, and this could be the moment Chris Sale makes a mistake. It could also go the way the stats suggest, and this could (should) be a big win for the Braves tonight. Either way, the Braves desperately need this. This is the type of game that teams trying to get into the postseason desperately need, and hopefully we’ll see that level of urgency and execution from the Braves tonight.

Game info

Date/time of the game: Tuesday, September 3, 7:20 p.m. ET

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA

TV: Bally Sports South

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM / 93,7 FM The Fan