Steve Webb
ATLANTA — Much as one would like to bask forever in the afterglow of a great win against the Giants, all Dodger fans know that the season’s work is incomplete. There still are two teams standing in the way of the team’s ultimate goal: to repeat as World Series Champs for the first time in franchise history. The first of those hurdles goes through the Deep South, with a trip to Atlanta for a NLCS rematch with the Braves.
Big bats around the diamond
In some ways, this team will look very familiar, especially around the infield. Like in 2020, first baseman Freddie Freeman is the beating heart of this team. After winning the MVP in 2020, Freeman got off to a slow start in 2021, but by the All-Star break, he was back to looking like Freddie Freeman again. For the year, he had a .300 batting average and an .896 OPS. The double play combo of Ozzie Albies and Dansby Swanson up the middle have both been solid this year. Albies drove in 106 runs and Swanson 88 with a lot of playing time for both of these two durable infielders.
However, the story of the Braves’ infield has to be the emergence of Austin Riley at third base. After hitting just .243 in 2020, Riley broke out in a big way in 2021, leading the team in hitting with a .303 average and OPS with .898. Clearly, Riley is a guy that the Dodgers’ pitchers are going to have to be careful with during this series.
Handling the catching chores will probably be Travis d’Arnaud, who was a Dodger for about twelve seconds last year before being traded. He caught all four games of the NDLS this year, and though he struggled with the bat in the series, he nevertheless remains a hitter that you can’t take lightly.
Revamped outfield features dangerous hitters
Of course, the biggest story of the Braves’ 2021 is the loss to injury of their most dynamic player, outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. Acuna played 82 games at near MVP level at the beginning of the year before going down with a season-ending ACL tear. In addition, outfielder Marcell Ozuna has been out most of the season because of a domestic violence situation stemming from a May incident in which he had an altercation with his wife. So, the Braves’ outfield was basically gutted in 2021. However, you have to hand it to GM Alex Anthopoulos. When Ozuna was put on admin leave and Acuna went down, Anthopoulos got busy. He did a whole mess of horse trading in July and ended up with an entirely new crew to stock his outfield with.
From the Cubs, he acquired our old buddy Joc Pederson. From the Indians, mercurial outfielder Eddie Rosario, and from the Royals, Anthopoulos nabbed slugger Jorge Soler. And finally, from Miami, the Braves’ reacquired Adam Duvall, who had played two seasons in Atlanta prior to leaving for free agency at the end of 2020.
Of course, Joc Pederson and his shock of blond hair and string of pearls, continues to add to his Joctober legend, smashing a pair of pinch-hit home runs in the NLDS against Milwaukee. The streaky Eddie Rosario was a major contributor to the Braves’ push for the NL East Crown, and the lefthander hit a couple of clutch hits in the NLDS. Soler, who can hit the ball as far as anybody, is a question mark for the series, as a recent positive Covid test has put his roster spot in jeopardy for this series. Certainly, the Braves are planning to move forward without him at this point. Adam Duvall is much like the others in this outfield, a three-true-outcomes guy: low average, a lot of slug, and a good deal of swing-and-miss. Duvall finished second in the NL to Javy Baez in strikeouts this year, whiffing a total of 174 times.
So all of the outfielders have holes in their game, so if the Dodgers’ staff is looking for outs, this is where they are most likely to find them.
Pitching staff riding a hot hand
The Braves’ pitching staff also didn’t really get rolling until the second half of the season. However, in the NLDS, they showed up big time. Sure, it was against the light-hitting Brewers, but they have notched a 1.54 postseason ERA so far. In fact, Charlie Morton was the only Braves starter who even gave up an earned run in the first round. The other two starters, Ian Anderson and Max Fried were both brilliant in their starts, surrendering only three hits apiece in back-to-back scoreless outings. Clearly if the Dodgers hope to repeat as World Series champs, they’re going to have to attack that rotation and get to the bullpen.
However, the bullpen has been pretty solid of late, as well. Luke Jackson and Tyler Matzek led the way in the second half, each appearing in over 30 games with a sub 3.00 ERA. Closer Will Smith struggled a lot in August, but seemed to regain his stride in September. He closed out all three Braves’ wins in the NLDS without giving up a run.
Dodgers need a road win
Of course, on paper, an Acuna-less Braves seems like an overmatched opponent for the Dodgers. After all, if they had been playing in the same division, the Dodgers would have finished 18 games ahead of the Braves. In fact, with their 88 wins, the Braves were the the worst team to make the playoffs, even finishing with fewer wins than all four Wild Card teams this year.
However, as they say, you don’t play the games on paper. If the Braves’ arms can keep the Dodgers’ hitters at bay, this could very well be a low-scoring dogfight of a series. I doubt it’s going to be as epic as 2020, but I think we’re in for some very good baseball in the next ten days. Hopefully, the Dodgers can ride their strong pitching to at least a split in Atlanta and then take care of business in LA during the week.
