The Morning TiltWednesday, October 7, 2026

Yesterday this brief closed on a sentence: nobody can be sent home tonight. Tonight somebody can, at six o'clock, at Truist Park.

Braves

Los Angeles 3, Atlanta 1, and the entire night happened inside one half-inning.

Enrique Hernández hit a two-run home run in the top of the fourth that brought Andy Pages home, Freddie Freeman followed with a solo shot, and neither side scored again. Chris Sale walked nobody and struck out seven across five innings and lost anyway, because two of the seven hits he gave up left the park. Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out 10 in seven. Atlanta had five hits and two errors.

Los Angeles leads the best-of-five 2-1. That makes tonight at Truist Park, 6:00 PM ET, an elimination game: Tyler Mahle against Tyler Glasnow. Game 5, if Atlanta forces one, is Friday at 8:00 PM ET at Dodger Stadium.

Ellis has turned his own argument around. Three mornings spent on one arm, and his verdict this morning is that Chris Sale is not the reason Atlanta is one loss from elimination. Dex has Freeman, who scored one of the three runs that beat Atlanta and then fielded the groundout that let Mauricio Dubón home with Atlanta's only run. Atlanta's franchise cornerstone of the 2010s was on both ends of the scoring.

Falcons

Baltimore arrives Sunday at 8:20 PM ET and may arrive with a question at quarterback.

Lamar Jackson sprained an ankle in Baltimore's Week 4 win over Tennessee and is listed Questionable. That is the only designation that exists, which is worth saying before the rest: NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, via NBC Sports, puts Jackson at an outside chance of playing; FOX Sports has called him unlikely; Baltimore's head coach, Jesse Minter, is reported by Yahoo Sports as uncertain. Tyler Huntley, who ran the offense through the second half on Sunday, is expected to start. Expected is not designated, and nobody has written the second one down.

The other thing about Sunday's visitor: Baltimore does not lead its division either. Cleveland and Baltimore are both 3-1, Cleveland is ahead on division record at 1-0 to Baltimore's 0-0, and Cleveland holds the fourth seed to Baltimore's fifth. Atlanta knows that separator: it is the one that has Carolina ahead of it on an identical 2-2. Two clubs that each sit second in their own division, on the same tiebreaker, meet in primetime — and one of them may be starting a backup.

Miles wrote on Sunday that Atlanta changed quarterbacks and not its mind. Atlanta has already spent a season inside that question. Sunday night it may be the other sideline holding it. Dex's standing position is that Atlanta is a road contender and nothing more until Sunday. Sunday now has a quarterback attached to it.

Atlanta's own list is short and unresolved. Za'Darius Smith went down in Monday's first quarter and an independent neurologist ruled a concussion; Jake Matthews' groin ended his night at roughly the same point, and medical staff did not send him back. Both are Questionable. The week's first practice participation report had not posted when this was written, which means anyone telling you who plays Sunday is guessing.

Hawks

Thursday at San Antonio, 8:00 PM ET at Frost Bank Center, is the second of five preseason dates and the first chance to see the three guards whose absence made Monday unreadable.

Luguentz Dort (knee bruise), CJ McCollum (nose bruise) and Aaron Wiggins (lip laceration, withdrawn during Monday's game) are all listed Day-To-Day, and all three records name Thursday as the next chance to play. Chance. Not plan. Nothing on file says any of the three will be on the floor, and three bruises are not a rotation.

Two names are not part of Thursday regardless. Mouhamed Gueye's foot fracture carries a three-to-four month re-evaluation dated from mid-July, and the record's own wording has him likely missing the start of the regular season. Henri Veesaar is out with a knee.

Simone has owned the availability argument since September, and Monday was the exhibit. Thursday is the first night it could get an answer off a floor instead of a form. The first game at State Farm Arena that counts is Saturday, October 24, against Houston.

Atlanta United

Seven matches remain, 21 points are available, and three of the seven are against the exact three clubs sitting six points above them.

FC Cincinnati come to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday at 7:30 PM ET. Atlanta go to New York City FC on October 28. Atlanta finish the season at Red Bull New York on November 7. Four of the seven are at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Which is a different chase than waiting on results elsewhere. Atlanta play every club they are chasing, and the season ends at the home of one of them.

It is also harder than six points. Tito's position is that Atlanta lose the wins tiebreaker to all three — Atlanta have seven wins, Red Bull New York nine, New York City FC and FC Cincinnati eight apiece — so drawing level on points does not get it done. And three clubs are parked in between: D.C. United on 30 with a match in hand, Columbus and Toronto on 29. Toronto is the November 1 home fixture. Atlanta are 14th of 15 on 27 points from 27 matches, 7-6-14, goal difference minus 13.

One more thing.

Four Atlanta clubs have a fixture inside the next five days: tonight at six, Thursday in San Antonio, Saturday and Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Three of the four are playing toward something further out — the Hawks toward a season that has not started, Atlanta United toward November 7, the Falcons toward a Week 18 trip to Carolina in January. One of the four is playing for the right to still have a schedule. That is the difference between a calendar and a bracket, and Atlanta is holding one of each before dinner is over.