Better October build? Biggest concern? What we learned from Dodgers’ series sweep of Braves

LOS ANGELES — Late Friday evening, minutes after the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers staged a tightly contested, 11-inning sport, Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández was requested if it was indicative of how intently matched these two groups stay. A smile crept in.

“We’re pretty close,” Hernández stated, “but I’m always going to say we’re better.”

A mere 38 hours later, Hernández delivered the definitive blow of what appeared like a defining series — a sixth-inning two-run homer that prolonged a Dodgers lead, propelled Los Angeles to a different victory and sealed a three-game sweep over the mighty Braves at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers overcame the Braves on Friday (closing rating: 4-3), overwhelmed them Saturday (11-2) and outlasted them Sunday (5-1). Their offense mixed for eight homers — all by Shohei Ohtani, Max Muncy and Hernández — and their pitchers held the Braves to 6 runs and 17 hits in 29 innings.

Asked for his largest takeaway from this series, Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts stated: “If we pitch well, we can keep any team at bay. With our offense, every game is winnable.”

The Braves arrived in L.A. with the perfect document within the main leagues and left with the second-best document within the National League East, falling two video games behind the Philadelphia Phillies — to not point out one sport behind the Dodgers. But the season is younger. Sentiments fluctuate. And you would be hard-pressed to discover a cheap baseball observer who does not nonetheless imagine the Dodgers and Braves are the 2 greatest groups within the NL and maybe, even after the Braves’ depressing weekend, the whole sport.

So what, precisely, may we glean from their first head-to-head matchup this season? Below is a take a look at what we learned.

What was the largest query going into the series? Did both group reply it?

Alden Gonzalez: Heading into the series, it was surprising that the Braves held the perfect document within the NL regardless that Ronald Acuña Jr., a unanimous MVP final yr, had hit only one residence run and had but to look very like his typical celebrity self. Nothing drives this offense fairly like Acuña from the leadoff spot. And but the Braves started the weekend ranked second within the majors — behind solely the Dodgers — in OPS, with Acuña’s mark sitting at simply .689. I questioned if a series like this was the kind which may spark Acuña — and it might need. Acuña homered Friday, then went 3-for-4 with a double in Saturday’s blowout loss. He started the month of May with three consecutive multihit video games earlier than an 0-for-3 exhibiting Sunday. If he really will get sizzling, this Braves offense will elevate to yet one more degree.

David Schoenfield: To beat the Dodgers, you need to maintain the highest of the order in test. The Braves did a fairly OK job of that on Friday; the Dodgers’ high 4 hitters — Mookie Betts, Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith — went 3-for-17 with three walks, together with an 0-for-5 effort from Betts. After the Braves scored within the high of the tenth, Ohtani tied the sport up with a base hit on a mushy line drive up the center within the backside of the inning — some dangerous luck for Raisel Iglesias, who made a great pitch, however Ohtani reached out and simply poked it previous a diving Orlando Arcia. Andy Pages would then win the sport for the Dodgers within the backside of the eleventh on a blooper to middle area with a 63-mph exit velocity.

Saturday was a special story, although: The Dodgers’ high 4 went 8-for-18 with two walks, together with a house run from Ohtani. Of course, the massive story within the 11-2 blowout was Muncy, the No. 5 hitter, blasting three residence runs — a reminder that the Dodgers lineup does not essentially finish after Smith. Sunday was the Ohtani present: 4-for-4, 3 RBIs and two residence runs, together with a two-run blast within the first inning off Max Fried that set the Dodgers on their approach to the sweep. So, no, it is arduous to say the Braves did sufficient to comprise Ohtani & Co.

What shocked you probably the most?

Gonzalez: For as menacing as the highest half of the Dodgers’ lineup has been, the underside half has been sorely missing — which is why the emergence of Pages has been so essential. Pages, a 23-year-old outfield prospect from Cuba, had 4 hits in Friday’s series opener, together with a walk-off single within the eleventh inning. He adopted that by going 2-for-5 with a house run Saturday. Pages has but to attract his first stroll this season, however he is OPS’ing .903 in 74 plate appearances. He was checked out as a brief substitute whereas Jason Heyward works via a again concern, however given the struggles of Chris Taylor, James Outman and Gavin Lux — they’ve mixed for a .153/.247/.203 slash line — Pages has advanced into an important contributor.

Schoenfield: Matt Olson’s struggles on the plate proceed. He really began the season off nicely, with three doubles on Opening Day and hitting .293 with a .973 OPS via 14 video games. He regarded primed for an additional monster season. Instead, je’s hitting a number of too many grounders and too many fly balls with too excessive of a launch angle. After going 1-for-10 on this series, he’s 6-for-59 (.102) over his previous 18 video games with only one double and no residence runs.

The excellent news, although: He ought to be nice, because it seems he is hitting into quite a bit of dangerous luck. A tough-hit ball is one hit at 95 mph, and Olson stays within the 98th percentile amongst all hitters in hard-hit charge. Entering Sunday, the MLB common on hard-hit balls was .480, however he has simply three hits and a sac fly on his previous 23 hard-hit balls. In the earlier series towards Seattle, Olson bought robbed a pair of occasions on hard-hit balls. Still, seeing him with a sub-.200 common and simply three residence runs is a shock.

What was the largest concern for both group?

Gonzalez: My largest concern is for opposing pitchers’ skill to tame the highest half of the Dodgers’ lineup. The L.A. offense bought a lot hype heading into this season, and someway the highest of their lineup has exceeded expectations — with the prowess of Betts, Ohtani and Freeman within the first three spots, but in addition with the continued emergence of Smith and Muncy and Hernández behind him. Betts and Smith did not do a lot this series, however Ohtani homered and Hernandez homered a mixed 5 occasions, Freeman doubled and tripled Saturday and Muncy registered his first profession three-homer sport that very same evening. Keeping all of them in test has appeared not possible all season — because the Braves simply learned. Betts, Ohtani, Freeman and Smith particularly have mixed for a .337/.432/.567 slash line with 18 residence runs this yr — regardless that Freeman hasn’t essentially felt proper for many of it. Ridiculous.

Schoenfield: The continued sluggish begins within the energy division for not simply Olson however Acuña and Austin Riley, too. Last yr, the three averaged a house run each 14.3 at-bats; this yr, it is one each 46.9 at-bats. As a end result, the Braves are manner down as a group in residence runs, averaging precisely one residence run per sport in comparison with final yr’s onslaught of 1.9 per sport. Olson and Riley are placing out about the identical charge as final season, so for them that hasn’t been the difficulty. Acuña, nevertheless, has seen his strikeout charge climb from 11.4% final season to 26.8% in 2024 — much like the place he was in 2021-22, when he struck out 23.6% of the time. After a stretch of 13 strikeouts in his 5 earlier video games earlier than this series, perhaps it is a good signal that he went 2-for-5 with a house run and only one strikeout Friday after which 3-for-4 with no strikeouts Saturday. (He did, nevertheless, go hitless with one stroll and one strikeout Sunday.)

Which group is best arrange for October?

Gonzalez: The recipe for October success on this period is both extremely complicated or nonexistent. Last fall supplied a evident instance, with the Braves and Dodgers every bounced within the division series by two groups that completed a mixed 30 video games under them within the standings. Still: If there is an inventory of substances obligatory for thriving within the playoffs, it is premier expertise, pitching depth, big-game expertise and well being. As far because the Dodgers and Braves are involved — test, test, test and, nicely, we’ll see. Nonetheless, each groups are clearly constructed to win a championship.

If I’m pressured to choose one, I’m selecting the Braves for one thing Roberts alluded to this weekend — their string of efficient left-handed relievers in A.J. Minter, Aaron Bummer, Dylan Lee and Tyler Matzek. They all have a historical past of being powerful towards opposing left-handed hitters, which could possibly be an element should you’re going through, say, Freeman, Ohtani and Muncy within the late phases of an NLCS. Will it finally matter? Who is aware of. But if there’s one workers constructed to deal with an offense as devastating because the Dodgers’, it is most likely the Braves’.

Schoenfield: Honestly… it is too early to inform right here. I’m old style in believing that two top-flight starters will go a great distance in October, and the Dodgers have that in Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Glasnow held the Braves to 2 runs with 10 strikeouts Friday, and whereas Yamamoto did not pitch on this series, he has a 1.64 ERA since that first-inning catastrophe towards the Padres in Korea. On the opposite hand, regardless of the outcomes of this series, the Braves may nonetheless match up with the Dodgers in October not solely with all these lefty relievers, however with Max Fried and Chris Sale within the rotation. Though Fried has by no means had a lot of a platoon cut up in his profession, Sale stays powerful on lefties with that wipeout slider (.167 common this season) and that could possibly be hassle for Ohtani, Freeman and Muncy.

What will you be looking ahead to both group shifting ahead?

Gonzalez: Walker Buehler returns to the Dodgers’ rotation Monday after a 20-month-long rehabilitation from a second Tommy John surgical procedure. Will he be the electrical Buehler we keep in mind from the early half of 2022, or some diluted model of that? Perhaps the identical will be requested for Bobby Miller, who’s nursing shoulder irritation however ought to quickly face hitters once more and start his development in earnest. Clayton Kershaw, who threw his first bullpen session Friday — exactly six months after offseason shoulder surgical procedure — will not return till someday within the second half. Glasnow (2.70 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 50 innings this season) and Yamamoto look dominant. But the Dodgers’ success in October may hinge enormously on who follows them.

Schoenfield: The again finish of the Braves’ rotation — which appears much more essential now with the Phillies off to a sizzling begin (that wasn’t the case the previous two seasons, when the Braves ran away with the NL East title). Bryce Elder was an All-Star final season, however he struggled within the second half and is within the rotation solely as a result of of Spencer Strider’s harm. The Dodgers knocked him round for seven runs and three residence runs Saturday. Reynaldo Lopez has been terrific thus far with a 1.50 ERA via 5 begins, however let’s examine if he can proceed to keep away from the house runs that plagued him in his earlier stints as a starter. Then there’s Sale. Can he make 30 begins, which he hasn’t accomplished since 2017? The Braves may want him to take action to carry off the Phillies.