ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Braves walked off the field a year ago a thoroughly beaten team, their defense of the World Series championship wiped out in less than a week.
Now, they’ve got another shot at the team that delivered the playoff heartache.
The 104-win Braves romped to their sixth straight division title with the major leagues’ best record and a power-packed lineup that tied the team record with 307 homers.
They open the best-of-five NL Division Series on Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies in a much-anticipated postseason rematch.
“A really cool series on paper, right?” Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber said before a workout at Truist Park.
Led by MVP favorite Ronald Acuña Jr., the first player with 40 homers and 70 stolen bases in a season, the Braves are eager to replicate their run to the World Series championship in 2021.
They’d prefer to forget what happened last October.
After finishing 14 games behind Atlanta during the regular season, the Phillies stunned the Braves in the NLDS.
It wasn’t that close, either.
After splitting the first two games in Atlanta, the Phillies finished off the series by winning the final two on their home field by a combined 17-4.
“What happened last year is in the past,” Acuña, sporting a 40-70 T-shirt, said through an interpreter.
Philadelphia’s upset of the Braves was part of an improbable postseason run that didn’t end until the World Series, when the Phillies finally ran out of steam in a loss to the Houston Astros.
They are determined to finish the job in 2023, and certainly looked up to the task by making quick work of Miami in the wild card round.
Philadelphia swept the upstart Marlins by scores of 4-1 and 7-1, the clincher capped by Bryson Stott’s grand slam.
“Experience is key to a lot of things,” Schwarber said. “When you’re able to draw back on experience and you’re able to lean on experience, that’s going to be huge.”
In an effort to maintain their edge while sitting out a first-round bye, the Braves — who won the season series with the Phillies 8-5 — played three intrasquad games at Truist Park.
They hope that keeping their daily routine as close to normal as possible during a five-day break will lead to a sharper performance against the Phillies this time around.
“Last year was the first time anybody really ever experienced that (long layoff),” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.