MLB 2024: Takeaways from Dodgers’ collection sweep of Braves

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

“We’re fairly shut,” Hernández stated, “however I am at all times going to say we’re higher.”

A mere 38 hours later, Hernández delivered the definitive blow of what appeared like a defining collection — 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 (remaining 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.

Requested for his greatest takeaway from this collection, Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts stated: “If we pitch effectively, we are able to hold any staff at bay. With our offense, each recreation is winnable.”

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

So what, precisely, might we glean from their first head-to-head matchup this season? Under is a take a look at what we discovered.

What was the largest query going into the collection? Did both staff reply it?

Alden Gonzalez: Heading into the collection, it was stunning that the Braves held the perfect file within the NL despite the fact that Ronald Acuña Jr., a unanimous MVP final 12 months, had hit only one residence run and had but to look very like his typical famous person 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 puzzled if a collection like this was the sort that may spark Acuña — and it may need. Acuña homered Friday, then went 3-for-4 with a double in Saturday’s blowout loss. He started the month of Might with three consecutive multihit video games earlier than an 0-for-3 displaying Sunday. If he actually will get scorching, this Braves offense will elevate to one more stage.

David Schoenfield: To beat the Dodgers, it’s important to maintain the highest of the order in examine. The Braves did a fairly OK job of that on Friday; the Dodgers’ prime 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 prime of the tenth, Ohtani tied the sport up with a base hit on a delicate line drive up the center within the backside of the inning — some dangerous luck for Raisel Iglesias, who made an excellent 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 heart area with a 63-mph exit velocity.

Saturday was a special story, although: The Dodgers’ prime 4 went 8-for-18 with two walks, together with a house run from Ohtani. In fact, the large 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 method to the sweep. So, no, it is arduous to say the Braves did sufficient to comprise Ohtani & Co.

What stunned you essentially 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 vital. Pages, a 23-year-old outfield prospect from Cuba, had 4 hits in Friday’s collection 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 short lived substitute whereas Jason Heyward works via a again problem, 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 truly began the season off effectively, 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. As a substitute, 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 collection, 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 superb, because it seems he is hitting into lots 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. Getting into 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. Within the earlier collection towards Seattle, Olson received robbed a few instances on hard-hit balls. Nonetheless, seeing him with a sub-.200 common and simply three residence runs is a shock.

What was the largest concern for both staff?

Gonzalez: My greatest concern is for opposing pitchers’ means to tame the highest half of the Dodgers’ lineup. The L.A. offense received a lot hype heading into this season, and by some means 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 collection, however Ohtani homered and Hernandez homered a mixed 5 instances, Freeman doubled and tripled Saturday and Muncy registered his first profession three-homer recreation that very same night time. Conserving all of them in examine has appeared not possible all season — because the Braves simply discovered. Betts, Ohtani, Freeman and Smith particularly have mixed for a .337/.432/.567 slash line with 18 residence runs this 12 months — despite the fact 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. Final 12 months, the three averaged a house run each 14.3 at-bats; this 12 months, it is one each 46.9 at-bats. Consequently, the Braves are manner down as a staff in residence runs, averaging precisely one residence run per recreation in comparison with final 12 months’s onslaught of 1.9 per recreation. Olson and Riley are putting 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 — just 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 collection, possibly 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 staff is healthier arrange for October?

Gonzalez: The recipe for October success on this period is both extremely advanced or nonexistent. Final fall offered a obvious instance, with the Braves and Dodgers every bounced within the division collection by two groups that completed a mixed 30 video games beneath them within the standings. Nonetheless: If there is an inventory of elements obligatory for thriving within the playoffs, it is premier expertise, pitching depth, big-game expertise and well being. So far as the Dodgers and Braves are involved — examine, examine, examine and, effectively, we’ll see. Nonetheless, each groups are clearly constructed to win a championship.

If I am pressured to choose one, I am 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. All of them have a historical past of being robust towards opposing left-handed hitters, which may very well be an element in case you’re going through, say, Freeman, Ohtani and Muncy within the late levels of an NLCS. Will it finally matter? Who is aware of. But when there’s one employees constructed to deal with an offense as devastating because the Dodgers’, it is in all probability the Braves’.

Schoenfield: Truthfully… it is too early to inform right here. I am old skool 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 collection, he has a 1.64 ERA since that first-inning catastrophe towards the Padres in Korea. However, regardless of the outcomes of this collection, the Braves might 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. Although Fried has by no means had a lot of a platoon cut up in his profession, Sale stays robust on lefties with that wipeout slider (.167 common this season) and that may very well be hassle for Ohtani, Freeman and Muncy.

What’s going to you be expecting both staff 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 bear in mind from the early a part of 2022, or some diluted model of that? Maybe the identical may 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. However the Dodgers’ success in October might hinge enormously on who follows them.

Schoenfield: The again finish of the Braves’ rotation — which appears to be like much more vital now with the Phillies off to a scorching 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 due to Spencer Strider‘s damage. The Dodgers knocked him round for seven runs and three residence runs Saturday. Reynaldo Lopez has been terrific to this point 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 carried out since 2017? The Braves would possibly want him to take action to carry off the Phillies.