Where to Watch, What You Need to Know for Braves vs Padres Wild Card Series

The Atlanta Braves take on the San Diego Padres in the Wild Card Round. Here's everything you need to know for this upcoming matchup.

Here's everything you need to know for the Atlanta Braves-San Diego Padres Wild Card series. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Braves (WC2, 89-73) face the San Diego Padres (WC1, 93-69) in the Wild Card round of the MLB Postseason. 

Right here is your one-stop shop for finding out where to watch the games and who will be on the bump for the Braves.

Consider this your TV guide for the Wild Card round. Let’s dive in. 

Where to watch along with first pitch times:

• Game 1, Tuesday, Oct. 1: ESPN, 8:38 p.m. EDT
• Game 2, Wednesday, Oct. 2: ESPN 2, 8:38 p.m. EDT
• Game 3, Thursday, Oct. 3: ESPN, 7:08 p.m. EDT

All three games of the Wild Card round will be on an ESPN channel. Two on the main channel and one on ESPN 2. If you have ESPN Plus, you can log into a TV provider and watch the games from the app. 

What to know about the opponent:

The Padres enter the postseason as one of the hottest teams in baseball. After hovering around .500 heading into the All-Star Break, they went 43-20 the rest of the way. While they fell short, their late-season push gave them a chance to battle with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League West division crown. 

The team is full of notable established stars such as six-time all-star and two-time gold glove winner Manny Machado, two-time all-star Fernando Tatis Jr., three-time batting title champion Luis Arreaz, four-time All-Star Xander Bogaerts and five-time all-star Yu Darvish. Outfielder Jackson Merrill is a leading candidate for rookie of the year in the National League. 

Starting pitcher Dylan Cease is a strikeout machine, who finished just one punchout behind Atlanta Braves starter Chris Sale to be the strikeout leader in the NL. 

As a team, the offense had the sixth-best OPS (.744) but the pitching only had the 12th-best ERA (3.86). It’s the opposite situation to the Braves who have the best ERA (3.49) in MLB but just the 12th-best OPS (.724). 

Probable starting pitchers:

• Game 1, Tuesday, Oct. 1: A.J. Smith-Shawver (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Michael King (13-9, 2.95 ERA)
• Game 2, Wednesday, Oct 2: Max Fried (11-10, 3.25 ERA) vs Joe Musgrove (6-5, 3.88 ERA)
• Game 3, Thursday, Oct. 3: Braves TBD vs Dylan Cease (14-11, 3.47 ERA)