Tarik Skubal brings a dominant postseason pedigree to Game 1, eyeing a historic three-peat for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
There's a clear difference in how well the Atlanta Braves hit against right-handed pitchers compared to lefties.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were likely well aware of that, but Tarik Skubal starting Game 1 should come as no surprise.
Skubal's name kept floating around at the trade deadline, and to no surprise, he ended up in LA.
This Dodgers team is absolutely loaded, though they still have their fair share of struggles as they eye a historic three-peat.
All eyes are on Skubal in the series opener as Atlanta comes to town looking to get over the hump of how much they've struggled against left-handed pitchers this season.
Braves OPS vs. LHP: .696
In terms of on-base plus slugging, the Braves are under .700 against southpaws. For reference, they had an OPS of .730 in the regular season against righties.
Skubal will be setting the tone for the Dodgers in the postseason, but it's not like he's entirely new to this environment.
This is a guy who's started six career playoff games, and he has an incredible 2.04 ERA to go along with a 0.73 WHIP.
Those numbers prove just how good he's been when the lights shine the brightest, it's just a matter of him keeping up at that pace here in 2026.
Skubal has an overall 6.9 K/BB rate this season, but the 5.4 it was during his time with the Dodgers is noticeably lower than the 8.3 it was when he began the season in Detroit.
During his two playoff years with the Tigers, he had an overall 9.3 K/BB ratio. Skubal has allowed nine earned runs in his 39.2 innings of playoff baseball.
Keep in mind, five of those runs came in one game in 2024. Prior to that he had a pair of scoreless appearances, and then last season he never allowed more than two earned runs in a start.
Skubal has given up three homers in his playoff career, but what's even more important is taking note of his 13 and 14 strikeout performances in the 2025 playoffs.
Whether or not he'll be able to play at that level once again this season remains to be seen, but if there was ever a team to do it against, it's the Braves.
Atlanta scored at least three runs in each of its three games in the Wild Card round, but their two victories came in games where they scored five-plus runs.
