The Phillies play an actual Good Team in the Brewers, and some other stuff
With the Braves idle on a travel day, there’s still some interesting MLB action going on tonight.
Probably the biggest item of interest for people intent on watching the standings is the Phillies-Brewers game. The Phillies get to play an actual Good Team, for once. In addition, even if the Brewers lose, that’s at least somewhat useful to the Braves in the grand scheme of things, as the Brewers are one of the teams that will likely be up there competing for a playoff spot if anyone rises up to challenge them in the NL Central. That said, the pitching matchup in this game involves Zack Wheeler facing a bullpen game, so the Phillies are heavily favored here.
As far as other games to keep an eye on, there are two I’m most interested in. First, the Tigers visit the Rangers. Both teams are 29-30, so one team will at least hit .500 today when all is said and done. The pitching matchup, too, is pretty cool — Tarik Skubal is one of the best pitchers of 2024 in the early going, and Nate Eovaldi is at least decent. The other one is more niche — the Padres take on the Angels in Anaheim, with Matt Waldron facing Tyler Anderson. The Padres are one of those teams that might be very relevant to the Braves’ hopes if they end up suffering the same barreled out shenanigans for much longer, Waldron throws a knuckleball, and Tyler Anderson is simultaneously not very good yet not so terrible that this game is made uninteresting because of it.