Braves’ Season Ends in Brutal Fashion as Stars Fail to Show Up

In the midst of a playoff stretch where the Atlanta Braves have gotten very little from some of their best players, Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson, and Drake Baldwin, they still found themselves in a tie game in the seventh inning against one of the best rosters in baseball. 

They got there by six and a third innings of stellar one-run baseball by trade deadline acquisition Tyler Mahle. He allowed three hits, struck out four, and walked one. The earned run came off an Andy Pages single that scored both Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman. The Dodgers scored in the second inning on an error by shortstop Mauricio Dubon, who allowed Shohei Ohtani to score. 

With one out, Max Muncy popped up to short left-center field, sending Dubon back into the outfield. He camped under the ball, ready to make the catch, but whiffed. One of the worst defensive plays of the season came at a crucial moment, with the Braves' backs facing the wall. 

With a 3-1 lead off of Pages’s single, the Braves went to the plate and produced nothing in the seventh and eighth innings. They scored only one run off Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow on a wild pitch in the first inning. Glasnow threw 4.2 innings, and four relief pitchers combined to shut down Atlanta the rest of the way. 

The Dodgers came to the plate in the top of the 9th looking to add on, and Max Muncy hit a bomb over the fence in right field off of usually unhittable Braves closer Raisel Iglesias. Extending his Dodgers' postseason home run record to 19 with one swing, and gave Los Angeles a much-needed insurance run. 

Rowdy Tellez struck out looking to start the inning, then Mauricio Dubon flew out to right field on the first pitch from Edwin Diaz. 

Austin Riley was Atlanta's last hope. He quickly went down 0-2, before flying out to Kyle Tucker in right field, ending the season and sending the Los Angeles Dodgers to the National League Championship Series as they look for their third straight World Series title. 

The story of this playoff stretch will be the Braves’ stars and best players failing to step up offensively. Acuña had three hits over seven games, and two hits in the four-game series against the Dodgers. Matt Olson had four hits and one home run over seven games, and Drake Baldwin had just three hits in the playoffs, disappointing. The trio combined to go 0-for-11 in game four.