Mark Wiedmer
I was there the night after the press box fire at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in July of 1993. I was one day removed for what may have been the start of the greatest extended stretch run in major league history. Or don’t you think the Atlanta Braves going 51-17 over the final 68 regular-season games to overtake the San Francisco Giants by a single game that season was epic?
Trouble is, we may be watching such a run again. Except this time the Braves are the hunted instead of the hunter.
And the biggest series of the season begins tonight at Dodger Stadium against the team chasing them.
Check the standings today and the Braves sit atop the NL East with an 87-45 record, The LA Dodgers are atop the NL West with a 83-49 record. It doesn’t take a math wiz to understand that if Dodger Blue sweeps the four games this weekend against the Braves, they’ll be tied for not only baseball’s best record, but home field advantage come the playoffs. And like it or not, should that happen, the Dodgers would suddenly have all the momentum.
The idea of anyone but the Braves owning home field for the National League playoffs has been unthinkable throughout this long, hot summer. Just Wednesday, ESPN’s website ran a story where an unnamed NL East general manager said of the Braves: "They're the best [team in baseball], and it's not even close.”
Another executive said: "They can beat you in every phase of the game. The length of their lineup is as good as I can recall."
And perhaps that’s true. By statistics, they have the best offense and pitching _ they lead in ERA and bullpen ERA. They have power and speed. They have experience. They have a manager that pulled all the right strings with a roster inferior to this one two years ago on that magical World Series run, the Braves’ first world title since 1995.
In other words, they’re LOADED.
But just like Atlanta stormed from nowhere to catch the Giants at the wire in 1993, so, too, are the Dodgers making a furious run at the Braves for the best record in baseball. Not only that, the former Brave Freddie Freeman is leading the charge with the kind of offensive numbers that just might nip Ronald Acuna Jr. for NL MVP. At least he might if LA teammate Mookie Betts doesn’t beat both of them out.
How hot is Betts, the Nashville native? He’s batting .453 for the month of August.
How hot are the Dodgers? Wednesday night’s 7-0 home victory over Arizona was LA’s 20th win in its last 23 games. With one game to go in August tonight against Atlanta, the Dodgers have already won 24 games this month. How amazing is that? Think about what a big deal was made of the Braves in June when they went 20-4.
Not only that, over their last 10 games they’re averaging 7.1 runs a game. Over their last 20 games, that number is 6 a night. Another thing to shake up Braves Country? Since 2018, Atlanta is 2-10 at Dodger Stadium.
All of this will play out as it plays out over the next four days. And the next four weeks. Come October, Atlanta will either own home field for the playoffs or it won’t. But winning two of four this weekend in LA would certainly help that goal along.
But other than the Dodgers, is there any other thing to worry about for Atlanta?
In the ESPN article, one executive brought up an issue with the bullpen, an issue that has haunted the Braves in the past, but not so much when they won it all in 2021.
Said the executive: "(I’m) nitpicking (here). (Hard-throwing bullpens usually step up in the postseason for the winner, and the Braves' bullpen ranks 28th in number of pitches 96 mph or above.”
ESPN Stats and Information says Atlanta's bullpen has a 4.24 ERA prior to the seventh inning, ranking 16th in MLB. But from the seventh inning on, they have a 3.14 ERA, tied for second. Come the playoffs, the starting pitching of Spencer Strider, Max Fried and Charlie Morton expected to get to the seventh, that bullpen should hold up just fine, but it would be nice to have a flamethrower out of the pen.
But all that’s for later, hopefully much later, with a spot in the World Series on the line. For now, the focus is on tonight at 10:10 p.m., Friday night at the same time, Saturday at 9:10 and Sunday afternoon (4:10) in LA.
Said one executive in the ESPN article: "I think the Dodgers' overall 26-man roster depth is probably better than Atlanta's, so I would think they have the best chance against them in a long series. And they are a team that knows how to win, can take a punch, and has a tremendous home-field advantage."
We’ll see. But this feels like 1993 all over again. Except this time the bad guys win.