The Atlanta Braves are headed back to the National League Division Series. Kim Ha-seong, for the first time all series, was not on the field to see it happen.
Atlanta beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-2 on Thursday night at Truist Park in a winner-take-all Game 3, closing out the National League Wild Card Series two games to one and setting up a Division Series matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was a comprehensive win built on an explosive first inning and a steady stream of relief pitching, and it ended a three-day series that had swung wildly from one extreme to the other. What it did not include, for the first time in three games, was Kim Ha-seong in the starting lineup.
A First Inning That Decided Almost Everything
Atlanta wasted no time turning Thursday’s deciding game into a laugher, at least for a few innings. Michael Harris II led off the bottom of the first by driving a three-run home run off Philadelphia starter Aaron Nola, instantly putting the Braves up 3-0 and silencing whatever nerves a sudden-death elimination game might have otherwise carried into the late innings. Atlanta kept piling on from there. Ozzie Albies added a two-run home run, and Matt Olson contributed a solo shot of his own, giving the Braves’ lineup three home runs on the night and a cushion that Philadelphia never seriously threatened.
On the mound, Atlanta leaned on a bullpen-forward approach that had become something of a theme for the Braves in high-leverage spots all series. Right-hander Ray Kerr opened the game and worked three and one-third scoreless innings before the Braves turned the ball over to a parade of relievers, including veteran left-hander Chris Sale, who had started and won Game 1 just two days earlier. Five Atlanta pitchers combined to hold the Phillies to two runs, more than enough support for a lineup that had already done the heavy lifting in the bottom of the first.
The Series That Swung Both Ways
To understand why Thursday’s result carried so much weight, it helps to rewind to how the series actually unfolded. Atlanta opened with a 5-3 win in Game 1 on Tuesday, a game built on a dominant start from Chris Sale and a go-ahead three-run homer from Austin Riley in the eighth inning. Philadelphia answered immediately, taking Game 2 on Wednesday in extra innings, 4-3, on an Alec Bohm walk-off-style homer in the tenth after erasing an Atlanta lead in the eighth. That result tied the series at a game apiece and forced exactly the scenario every postseason format is designed to produce eventually: a single game, winner moves on, loser’s season ends.
Given how tightly those first two games had been contested — a combined margin of just three runs across both — Thursday’s six-run outburst in the first inning alone represented a dramatic departure from the series’ pattern. Philadelphia never found an answer to the early deficit, and Atlanta’s bullpen made sure there was no repeat of Wednesday’s late-inning collapse.
Kim Ha-seong’s Series, Game by Game
For Kim Ha-seong, the three-game series had already been a story of its own well before Thursday’s decisive game even started. He started at shortstop and batted ninth in both Game 1 and Game 2, his first postseason action in four years since his run with the San Diego Padres. Game 1 was a forgettable return: two at-bats, two strikeouts, and a seat on the bench by the seventh inning as Atlanta’s manager opted for a pinch hitter. Game 2 looked different. Kim drew a leadoff walk in the third inning for his first time reaching base all postseason, then reached again in the seventh on a fielder’s choice after Philadelphia’s infield chose not to try for the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt attempt, eventually scoring on a Matt Olson sacrifice fly. It was a modest line in a game Atlanta ultimately lost, but it was read by many as a sign that the shortstop was starting to find his footing in October baseball again.
Game 3 did not continue that arc in either direction, because Kim Ha-seong was not in it. Atlanta’s lineup card for the winner-take-all game listed Mauricio Dubón at shortstop, batting fifth, with no mention of Kim appearing anywhere in the batting order. It marked the first time in the series that Atlanta went with a different starter at shortstop, and it meant the highest-leverage game of Atlanta’s season to date was played with Kim watching from the dugout rather than standing in the field or stepping into the batter’s box.
A Lineup Change Without an Official Explanation
Neither Atlanta’s coaching staff nor Kim himself has offered a detailed public explanation for the decision as of this writing, and reporting on the specific reasoning behind the move — whether it reflected a matchup-based read on Philadelphia’s pitching staff, a simple numbers decision after two quiet offensive showings, or something else entirely — remains more speculative than confirmed. What is confirmed is the lineup card itself: Dubón started at shortstop, and Kim did not appear in the game in any capacity that has been reported. For a player who had been a fixture at shortstop for Atlanta throughout the series and, before that, through a long and difficult road back from a lost 2026 regular season, sitting out the single biggest game of the year was a notable turn regardless of the reasoning behind it.
A Name American Fans Already Know
Readers unfamiliar with Kim’s background do not need much context to understand why his role in this series has drawn attention. Kim won a National League Gold Glove and Silver Slugger in the same 2022 season while playing shortstop for the San Diego Padres, a combination that reflects both elite defense and real offensive production rather than a glove-only role. That version of Kim helped push the Padres deep into the 2022 postseason, giving him genuine October experience long before this week. His path since then has included significant injury trouble, and the Kim Ha-seong who entered this Wild Card Series was working his way back from a difficult stretch rather than arriving as an established offensive force. Against that backdrop, being written out of the lineup for the series’ deciding game is a meaningfully different outcome than being written into it and simply going hitless.
What Thursday’s Win Means for Atlanta
Whatever the shortstop situation, Thursday’s result is unambiguous for the Braves as a franchise: they are moving on to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series. Getting there required navigating a series that never allowed Atlanta to feel comfortable for long. Game 1 was a statement win. Game 2 was a gut-punch loss that erased the good feeling almost entirely. Game 3 restored order emphatically, with the kind of first-inning explosion that teams dream about in elimination games and a bullpen that, this time, did not blow the lead.
Michael Harris II’s three-run homer off Aaron Nola will be the signature image of the win, a swing that turned a tense winner-take-all atmosphere into a laugher within the first ten minutes of the game. Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson adding their own home runs turned what might have been a nervy, low-scoring affair into a comfortable margin that Atlanta’s pitching staff could protect without needing a dramatic final out. Chris Sale’s willingness to pitch in relief just two days after his Game 1 start underscored how much the Braves were willing to empty the tank for a chance to advance, a commitment that paid off given how thin both bullpens were after two taxing games earlier in the series.
The Road Ahead: Dodgers in the NLDS
Atlanta’s reward for surviving the Wild Card round is a Division Series matchup with the Los Angeles Dodgers, one of the sport’s deepest and most talented rosters. The Braves will need better health and better luck than they had for stretches of the 2026 regular season if they hope to advance further, and questions about the construction of their lineup — including whatever is going on at shortstop — will not simply disappear because of one lopsided win. Whether Kim Ha-seong returns to the starting lineup for the NLDS, continues in a reduced role, or settles into something in between is not yet known, and speculating on Atlanta’s plans before any official announcement would go beyond what has actually been reported.
What is clear is that the Braves enter the Division Series as a team that has already proven, over three high-stress games in three days, that it can win in more than one way: with a dominant start and go-ahead power in Game 1, almost winning a slugfest in Game 2, and blowing a series open early in Game 3. That versatility, more than any single individual storyline, is likely what Atlanta’s coaching staff will point to heading into a tougher round of the postseason.
A Comeback Story Paused, Not Finished
For Kim Ha-seong specifically, Thursday’s result leaves his personal comeback arc in an unusual place: his team advanced, but he did not get to contribute to how it happened. After a regular season widely described as the most difficult of his career, simply being on a postseason roster at all had already represented a notable step forward from where his season stood for much of the summer. Starting two of three Wild Card games, including a Game 2 in which he reached base and scored, added real substance to that step. Watching the deciding game from the bench complicates the shape of that story without erasing what came before it.
There will be more postseason baseball for Kim and the Braves to play, and a Division Series against the Dodgers will present an entirely new set of matchups, pitching staffs, and lineup decisions for Atlanta’s coaching staff to sort through. Whether Thursday’s lineup change was a one-game adjustment or the start of a reduced postseason role for Kim is a question that only the next round will be able to answer. For now, the only confirmed fact is the one the box score shows plainly: Atlanta won the game that mattered most so far this October, and Kim Ha-seong watched it happen from the dugout rather than the shortstop position he had occupied all series.
Why This Series Still Matters Beyond One Player
It is worth stepping back from any single player’s storyline to appreciate what Atlanta actually accomplished this week. Winning a winner-take-all postseason game, on the road to nowhere but elimination if it goes the other way, is one of the more stressful tasks in professional sports, and the Braves handled it about as cleanly as a team can: an early knockout blow, contributions from multiple hitters, and a bullpen that got outs when it mattered. Philadelphia, for its part, will have to live with a series in which it played Atlanta essentially even for six innings across two games before Thursday’s first inning buried any chance of a repeat of Wednesday’s extra-inning heroics.
For Atlanta, the attention now shifts entirely to the Dodgers and the considerably higher degree of difficulty a Division Series represents compared to a three-game Wild Card round. Every decision the Braves made this week — starting Dubón over Kim in Game 3, riding Chris Sale in relief after his Game 1 start, trusting a five-man relief effort to protect a first-inning lead — will be scrutinized further as the stakes rise. None of those decisions were wrong on Thursday night. Whether they remain the right ones against a deeper, more dangerous Dodgers roster is the question Atlanta now has to answer, starting with however it chooses to fill out its shortstop position when the NLDS begins.
There is also a broader context worth keeping in mind as the Braves move forward: postseason lineup decisions rarely stay fixed for an entire October. Managers routinely adjust based on an opposing starter’s handedness, recent form, or simple matchup history, and a single game benched is not the same thing as a permanent demotion. Atlanta’s coaching staff will have a full new round of pitching matchups to study against the Dodgers, and nothing about Thursday’s lineup card locks in how the Braves will approach shortstop once the NLDS actually begins. For now, the headline is straightforward and does not require reading too far into any one decision: Atlanta won the game it had to win, Philadelphia’s season is over, and the Braves are moving on to face one of baseball’s most talented rosters with a full new series’ worth of decisions still ahead of them.