Aaron Nola starts Game 3 as Phillies and Braves split first two in Philadelphia

Aaron Nola starts the third game of a four-game series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves on Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park, per Yahoo Sports. The teams arrive at the rubber game knotted at one apiece — Atlanta took the opener Friday, Philadelphia answered Saturday — which means the afternoon carries a little extra weight before the fourth game even arrives.

What happened

Per Yahoo Sports, Nola gets the ball for the Phillies with first pitch scheduled for 1:10 PM, broadcast locally on NBCSP. Tyler Mahle starts opposite him for Atlanta. The series is tied, the calendar reads September, and Citizens Bank Park is going gold for Childhood Cancer Awareness Day — which is the kind of Sunday afternoon that tends to feel larger than a mid-series game has any right to feel.

Why it matters

The pitching matchup is genuinely interesting on both sides, and for reasons that point in slightly different directions.

Nola arrives in this start having been, per Yahoo Sports, very good lately — going 3-1 with a 2.65 ERA in August. That kind of August from a veteran starter is the sort of thing a rotation leans on when the schedule tightens and the standings stop being theoretical. For a Phillies club sitting 4 games back in the NL East with a Wild Card cushion to protect, a quality outing from their ace-adjacent right-hander is not a luxury; it is the plan.

Mahle's story is a different kind of interesting. Per Yahoo Sports, the right-hander was acquired via trade at the end of July and has posted a 1.48 ERA across five starts since joining Atlanta. That is the kind of number that makes a front office look very smart about a deadline move, and it means the Braves are not exactly sending out a placeholder. A 1.48 ERA in five starts is a small sample, but it is a small sample that has been doing real work.

The series split heading into Sunday also means neither club has been able to seize the weekend. A win here gives one team the series before the finale; a loss means the whole thing comes down to Monday. These are the arithmetic realities of a four-game set in September, and they are not subtle.

The numbers

The Phillies carry an 80-62 record into Sunday, good for a .563 winning percentage and second place in the NL East, 4 games back of the division lead. In the Wild Card picture, they rank 2nd and sit +5.5 relative to the cut line — a cushion that is comfortable without being comfortable enough to stop checking. Philadelphia enters Sunday on a one-game winning streak, which is to say: they won Saturday, and now they would like to win Sunday.

Where the club stands

At 80-62, the Phillies are in a position that requires continued winning rather than dramatic surging. The NL East gap is 4 games, which is bridgeable but not trivial this late in the season. The Wild Card position — +5.5 relative to the cut line — provides a degree of insulation, but the September roster expansion that the league allows means opponents are also adding arms and options.

After Sunday's game against Atlanta, the series concludes Monday at Citizens Bank Park, where Jesús Luzardo is the probable starter for Philadelphia against Bryce Elder. Luzardo, it is worth noting, won the MLB monthly award for August 2026 performance with the Phillies, per Posterior Wire reporting — which means the back end of this rotation has been carrying its share. Tuesday brings the Houston Astros to Philadelphia, a different kind of test entirely.

The Braves, for their part, are not here on a sightseeing trip. Mahle's addition at the deadline has given Atlanta a rotation piece that has performed, and a series win in Philadelphia would carry its own September meaning.

What we don't know yet

The series context raises a few questions the Sunday afternoon box score will not fully answer. Zack Wheeler, who posted his first quality start since July 21 as the Phillies swept the Angels at the end of August per Posterior Wire reporting, and who has been using biomechanics analysis to work through what has been ailing him, is not the starter today — but his trajectory over the next few weeks matters enormously to how Philadelphia's rotation holds up in a potential postseason push. His situation remains one to monitor.

On the position player side, Bryson Stott returned to the lineup Saturday after being scratched from a recent game for a personal matter — the birth of his third child — per Posterior Wire reporting. His availability and presence in the lineup heading into Sunday is a stabilizing note for a Philadelphia infield that had Edmundo Sosa filling in at third base during his absence.

What Mahle's 1.48 ERA looks like against a full Philadelphia lineup, in a ballpark that has seen plenty of October baseball, is genuinely unknown. Five starts is a real number, but it is also a number that has not yet included a game quite like this one.

What to watch

### Is Nola's August form carrying into September?

The short answer, per what is available: Sunday will be the first data point. A 2.65 ERA in August is the kind of stretch that earns a pitcher the benefit of the doubt, but September at Citizens Bank Park against a motivated Atlanta club is its own examination. How deep Nola goes, and whether the Phillies' bullpen is asked to navigate the late innings, will shape how the club approaches the rest of the series and the week beyond it.

Mahle's performance is equally worth tracking. A trade acquisition posting a 1.48 ERA in five starts is a deadline success story in progress — the question is whether that story has another chapter on Sunday afternoon, or whether a Philadelphia lineup with something to prove writes a different ending.

The Monday finale, with Luzardo against Elder, looms regardless of Sunday's outcome. But a series win — for either club — would arrive with the kind of September weight that makes the standings feel a little more real.

First pitch is 1:10 PM, locally on NBCSP.