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Atlanta Braves' Ace in Very Unfortunate Club After Playoff Loss to Philadelphia Phillies

After another playoff loss against the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves' ace Spencer Strider is in a very unfortunate club in baseball history.
Brady Farkas|
Atlanta Braves' Ace in Very Unfortunate Club After Playoff Loss to Philadelphia Phillies
Atlanta Braves' Ace in Very Unfortunate Club After Playoff Loss to Philadelphia Phillies

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Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves, who won the most games in baseball this season, were eliminated on Thursday night by the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Division Series.

The Braves join the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers as teams to get a bye in the playoffs and suffer an LDS exit.

The Braves lost on Thursday 3-1 so the offense certainly deserves some blame, but ace pitcher Spencer Strider also factored in, taking the loss. The Cy Young candidate went 5.2 innings, surrendering seven hits and three earned runs. He also walked three and struck out seven.

Per @OptaSTATS on social media:

Spencer Strider is 0-3 in 3 career playoff games, all against the Phillies. He is the third pitcher to play the same opponent in each of his first 3 postseason appearances and earn the loss in all of them: 

Don Newcombe, 0-3 vs. NYY (1949-55) 

Bill Sherdel, 0-4 vs. NYY (1926-28)

It's a disappointing end to a great season for Strider, who went 20-5 this season with a 3.86 ERA. He led baseball in strikeouts with 281 in 186.2 innings and is going to get serious consideration for the Cy Young award.

In those three career playoff appearances, he's 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA. He's only struck out 19 batters in 15 innings.

Strider surrendered home runs to Nick Castellanos (two) and Trea Turner in the loss on Thursday.

The Braves will now head into the offseason while the Phillies will move on to the NLCS against the Diamondbacks.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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