Braves bullpen depth is now the central question of a tied NLDS, but the answer starts with Chris Sale, not another reliever. Atlanta reached Tuesday’s Game 3 against the Dodgers after asking its pitching staff to cover October innings in almost every possible way. Sale started, closed, and then waited. Ray Kerr handled opener duty. Dylan Dodd made his first major-league start since 2023. Didier Fuentes went from young reliever to a 47-pitch bridge through the ninth inning.
The strategy worked well enough to bring the series back to Truist Park at 1-1. However, Atlanta cannot keep treating every game like a 27-out bullpen puzzle. Game 1 required four pitchers. Game 2 required six. Kerr threw 89 pitches across two appearances in four days, while Fuentes carried 3 2/3 innings Sunday. Consequently, neither offers Weiss a realistic Game 3 option.
That makes the path much simpler. Sale gets Game 3. Tyler Mahle follows in Game 4. After five days of improvisation, Atlanta finally needs its starters to act like starters.
Atlanta Bought Time by Spending Relievers
The Braves entered the Division Series with a pitching problem before Los Angeles saw a single pitch. Injuries had already thinned the rotation. The Wild Card Series then forced Atlanta to push healthy arms beyond their normal roles.
At the time, there was little reason to save anybody. Sale threw 6 1/3 innings and 95 pitches in Wild Card Game 1 against Philadelphia. Two days later, Atlanta led the deciding Game 3 with four outs remaining and Bryce Harper coming to the plate. Sale told the Braves he could pitch. Weiss used him.
When you are four outs from advancing, tomorrow’s pitching plan becomes secondary. Sale threw 21 pitches, recorded the final four outs and sent Atlanta into the NLDS. However, those four outs complicated the next round. Sale had pitched twice in three days. Mahle had already carried seven innings in Wild Card Game 2. Neither offered Atlanta a normal option for Saturday’s opener.
So Weiss improvised. The approach kept Atlanta alive. It also created the workload problem now defining Braves bullpen depth.
The Game 1 and Game 2 Patchwork Experiment
Dylan Dodd gave Atlanta exactly what it needed
Dylan Dodd had not started a major-league game since 2023. In Game 1, Atlanta sent him directly at a Dodgers order built around Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, Teoscar Hernández and Max Muncy. Dodd handled the assignment.
He threw three scoreless innings on 47 pitches, allowing two hits without a walk. However, Atlanta could not turn those nine outs into a complete pitching plan. Victor Mederos recorded one out and allowed two runs. AJ Smith-Shawver followed with 53 pitches across 2 2/3 innings and surrendered three more. Brent Suter needed another 33 pitches to finish the afternoon.
Consequently, Atlanta burned four pitchers just to get through eight innings in a 5-3 loss. The sequence exposed the weakness in the bullpen-game model. An opener can win the first three innings, but somebody still has to handle innings four through seven against a lineup without many soft landing spots.
Los Angeles punished that stretch. Hernández homered in the fourth, and the Dodgers added two more home runs in the sixth. One mistake changed the matchup tree each time. That is where Braves bullpen depth gets tested hardest. The issue is not finding a pitcher capable of recording three outs. The problem is surviving enough middle innings without forcing a lower-leverage arm to face Ohtani or Freeman with runners aboard.
Ray Kerr and Didier Fuentes rescued Game 2
Hours later, Weiss doubled down instead of rushing Sale back. Ray Kerr opened Game 2 only three days after throwing 47 pitches in the Wild Card clincher. His workload suggested a short appearance. Instead, Kerr gave Atlanta 2 2/3 scoreless innings on 42 pitches.
He struck out four. More importantly, he prevented Los Angeles from forcing Weiss into another early bullpen scramble. However, Grant Holmes lasted only five batters in the fourth. Freddie Freeman homered, two more runners reached, and Weiss had to move again.
Dylan Lee helped Atlanta escape the immediate trouble before the bullpen carried the lead deeper into the game. Then Fuentes took on the heaviest assignment. The 21-year-old recorded 11 outs on 47 pitches, allowing only Muncy’s two-out solo homer in the ninth. His four-seam fastball averaged 99.4 mph, more than two miles per hour above his regular-season average. Rather than folding under the workload, Fuentes added velocity.
Finally, Raisel Iglesias secured the last out of Atlanta’s 3-2 win. Six pitchers got 27 outs. The Braves stole the road split. They also pushed two of their most useful multi-inning arms close to the limit.
The Middle Innings Are Where Los Angeles Can Break the Plan
Atlanta’s ninth-inning situation is not the biggest concern. Iglesias is rested. Dylan Lee remains available. Other short-relief options benefited from Monday’s off-day. The trouble starts if Sale leaves before that group should enter.
Game 1 showed why. Dodd supplied three clean innings, yet Los Angeles scored all five runs after Atlanta moved away from its opener. Hernández struck in the fourth. The Dodgers struck twice more in the sixth. Atlanta never reached the late innings on its preferred terms.
Game 2 produced the opposite result because Kerr and Fuentes combined for 6 1/3 innings. Their length reduced the number of matchup decisions Weiss needed to make. That safety net is thinner Tuesday. Kerr has thrown 89 pitches since Thursday. Fuentes threw 47 on Sunday after already working during the Wild Card round. Asking either for another major workload would erase much of the value created by Monday’s rest day.
Because of that usage, Braves bullpen depth now depends less on how many names appear on the roster and more on when Weiss must call each one. If Sale reaches the seventh, Atlanta can move toward Lee and Iglesias without exposing the middle of the bullpen. If he exits in the fourth, Weiss faces a much messier equation. JR Ritchie and Smith-Shawver provide length on the NLDS roster. However, asking either to navigate several innings against Betts, Ohtani and Freeman carries obvious risk. Dodd and Suter can cover outs, but both already absorbed substantial Game 1 workloads. The off-day helped. Now Sale has to make that rest matter.
Chris Sale Does Not Need to Chase Strikeouts
Sale enters Game 3 with a 2.16 regular-season ERA and 200 strikeouts across 162 2/3 innings. Those numbers establish what he can do. Tuesday demands something slightly different.
Atlanta needs efficient outs. Sale already showed this season that he can control the Dodgers. More importantly, he understands exactly where their lineup can make a starter work. Long counts matter. Foul balls matter. A six-pitch walk near the bottom of the order matters if it forces Sale to face Ohtani one extra time before the sixth inning ends.
That makes efficiency part of the matchup. Sale missed bats all season. Yet Atlanta should gladly trade a few strikeouts for early-count grounders and routine fly balls Tuesday. Seven innings on 95 pitches would help the pitching staff more than five dominant innings on the same total.
Despite the pressure, Weiss also has little reason to chase a complete game if Sale reaches the late innings with his pitch count climbing. The target is simpler: get from Sale to Atlanta’s best late-game arms without exposing the emergency layer of the bullpen. That distinction may define Braves bullpen depth for the rest of this series.
Tyler Mahle Can Finish the Reset
Sale only solves half the problem. Tyler Mahle is lined up for Game 4, and his Wild Card performance showed exactly what Atlanta needs from him.
Against Philadelphia, Mahle worked seven innings, allowed one run on six hits and struck out six. He completed the outing on 95 pitches while facing 28 batters. Atlanta could manage that game normally because Mahle handed Weiss 21 outs before the bullpen needed to solve anything.
The final score obscured some of his value. Philadelphia rallied after Mahle left, turning a controlled pitching night into another stressful finish. His contribution still mattered. On the other hand, Atlanta has spent most of this postseason working backward. Openers and multi-inning relievers have taken responsibility for outs that normally belong to starters. Mahle can restore the usual order Wednesday.
Another seven-inning start would reduce exposure for the back half of the staff. It would also give Kerr and Fuentes another recovery day if Atlanta needs either pitcher later in the series. Consequently, his impact reaches beyond Game 4. A deep Sale start followed by a deep Mahle start could almost completely reset Braves bullpen depth before a possible Game 5 in Los Angeles. Two short starts would erase much of the rest Weiss worked to create.
Atlanta Finally Has the Rotation Alignment It Wanted
The Braves did not plan this postseason pitching sequence. Injuries forced it. Philadelphia extended it. Sale’s relief appearance complicated it. However, Atlanta reached the position it wanted.
The NLDS stands tied. Sale gets Game 3 at home. Mahle follows in Game 4. Iglesias and Lee enter Tuesday rested, while Kerr and Fuentes receive badly needed recovery time. That setup explains why Weiss resisted using Sale in Game 2. A desperate move Sunday might have helped one night while weakening the next two. Instead, Atlanta won with six pitchers and preserved its two best traditional starters for Truist Park.
The strategy only pays off if those starters provide length. Braves bullpen depth has already proved it can cover emergency innings. Kerr has handled opener duty. Dodd gave Atlanta three clean frames in Los Angeles. Fuentes delivered one of the club’s biggest multi-inning relief performances of October. None of those performances should become the permanent model.
Atlanta can now stop asking how to manufacture 27 outs from six pitchers and ask a simpler question. Can Sale and Mahle deliver 40 or more of the next 54 outs? If they can, Weiss can deploy his late-inning arms where they belong. Kerr and Fuentes get recovery time. Atlanta no longer has to expose a long reliever simply because the fifth inning arrived too soon.
If they cannot, the Dodgers can force the Braves straight back into the middle-inning scramble that nearly buried them in Game 1. Braves bullpen depth has carried Atlanta this far. Now Sale and Mahle have to carry the bullpen.
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FAQs
Why is Braves bullpen depth so important against the Dodgers?
Atlanta used its relievers heavily through the Wild Card round and the first two NLDS games. Longer starts would keep its best bullpen arms in their preferred roles.
Who starts Game 3 for the Braves?
Chris Sale is lined up for Game 3. Atlanta needs him to provide efficient innings after protecting his workload earlier in the series.
Who is scheduled to start Game 4 for Atlanta?
Tyler Mahle follows Sale in Game 4. His seven-inning Wild Card outing showed how valuable starter length can be for Atlanta.
Why were Ray Kerr and Didier Fuentes so important in Game 2?
Kerr and Fuentes combined for 6 1/3 innings, helping Atlanta win without using Sale and reducing the strain on several other relievers.
What does Atlanta need most from Sale and Mahle?
Atlanta needs innings. Deep starts would allow the Braves to avoid another middle-inning scramble and preserve their late-game bullpen options.
