The Atlanta Braves dropped to 0-1 in their NLDS series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday afternoon with a tough 5-3 loss in Game 1 on the road. The Braves now will gear up for Game 2, which is slated for Sunday evening at 8:00 pm ET, once again from Los Angeles.

Most pundits expect Braves ace Chris Sale to be on the mound for Game 2, but recently, MLB insider Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic broke down why he thinks that would be a bad idea.

“Unappealing as it sounds, the better strategy for the Braves would be to stage a third straight bullpen day in Game 2 and preserve Sale for Game 3. They cannot be eliminated on Sunday. And asking Sale to pitch on two days of rest coming off his 21-pitch relief appearance in Atlanta’s wild-card series clincher would be asking too much,” wrote Rosenthal, per his account on X, formerly Twitter.

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Indeed, Sale appeared for the Braves three days ago in their series-clinching win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 3, and although he had only a fraction of his normal workload with 21 pitches in a relief effort, it would still be a sizable risk to bring him back for Game 2 against the Dodgers, especially considering that he is 37 years old and has a storied injury history.

Still, Rosenthal conceded that “The consensus in the Braves clubhouse was that if any pitcher can succeed under such trying circumstances, it’s Sale. That might very well be true.”

Sale has been dominant once again for Atlanta this year, and if he is indeed on the mound against the Dodgers for Game 2, Atlanta will feel good about its chances of stealing a road win and evening up the series.