Atlanta Braves Face Elimination After Game 3 Loss to Dodgers

The Atlanta Braves were set up perfectly for Game 3 of the NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Having stolen Game 2 on the road, and doing so without their ace Chris Sale on the mound, Atlanta was positioned perfectly to throw Sale for Game 3 in an attempt to control the series.

Sale was effective on Tuesday night, but not dominant. The Dodgers tagged him for seven hits and three earned runs, all of which came via the long ball, as Kiké Hernández and Freddie Freeman both left the yard. That was all the offense the Dodgers needed, as the Braves mustered just one run, which came on an RBI groundout by catcher Drake Baldwin.

Outside of that, it was a feeble effort offensively for the Braves, who scattered five hits against Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and relievers Tanner Scott and Edwin Díaz. Ozzie Albies did lead off the bottom of the ninth inning with a double off Díaz, which looked to be the potential start of a rally, but Michael Harris II grounded out, Mauricio Dubón popped out to right field, and Mike Yastrzemski, who entered the game as a pinch hitter for Lane Thomas, grounded out to shortstop Mookie Betts to end the game.

Now, Atlanta faces elimination in Game 4, which will be played on Wednesday night at home. There is no question that the Dodgers are the bar not just in the National League, but all of baseball. The reigning back-to-back World Series champions, LA only got better in the offseason and then again at the deadline.

That was fully on display in this one, and has been all series, as offseason addition Kyle Tucker played a role in Game 1 with his 2-for-4 performance, driving in a pair, and it was midseason addition Tarik Skubal who started that game, going six innings and surrendering just one earned run.

Then in Game 3, it was offseason addition Edwin Díaz who closed the door, securing the save, coming up big in the postseason after what was a shaky regular season. All of this is to say the Dodgers were already a dominant team, and widely considered baseball’s best, but were not content with that and made sure to go out and add even more pieces to the roster in the last two transaction cycles.

All the while, a team like the Braves made more marginal additions, which in this series has proven to be the big difference.

For the Braves, however, the series is not over. They have another game at home on Wednesday night, with a chance to send it back to LA for a decisive Game 5. That said, this was a tough loss, especially to get beat by a pair of long balls on a night where the offense was almost entirely shut down.