Braves Bring 26-12 Record Into Dodgers Vs Braves Series
The dodgers vs braves series opens this weekend at Dodger Stadium with Atlanta bringing a 26-12 record into Los Angeles. The Braves lost a series for the first time this season and now face a Dodgers club that is 23-14.
Sale Opens Friday For Atlanta
Chris Sale is scheduled to start Friday, giving Atlanta its first look in the series at a pitcher tasked with slowing a Los Angeles lineup that will be backed by a rotation led in this set by Emmet Sheehan, Roki Sasaki and Justin Wrobleski. Sale’s assignment comes with the Braves carrying MLB’s most potent offense and only two teams ahead of them in pitching staff ERA.
The Braves enter healthier than they have been all season, with Spencer Strider and Sean Murphy back, but Ronald Acuña Jr. remains on the injured list. Strider’s first start back from the injured list was rocky, and that leaves Atlanta with one of its top arms still trying to settle in while the series begins.
Dodger Stadium Has Not Been Kind
Atlanta’s recent numbers in Los Angeles are hard to ignore. Since the start of the 2018 season, the Braves are 7-20 at Dodger Stadium, including postseason games, and they were swept in three games there last season during an 0-7 start. They also were eliminated from the 2018 Division Series after losing both games at Dodger Stadium.
That history sits alongside a split postseason record between the two clubs. The Braves won Games 1 and 2 of the 2021 National League Championship Series in Los Angeles, while the Dodgers rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to beat Atlanta in the 2020 NLCS in Texas.
Los Angeles Rotation And Injuries
The Dodgers arrive at 23-14 and have gone 8-10 since starting 15-4, with a 2-3-1 series record during that span. Shohei Ohtani owns an MLB-best 0.97 ERA, Tyler Glasnow has a 2.72 ERA and Yoshinobu Yamamoto has a 3.09 ERA, even as the club has Mookie Betts, Blake Snell and Edwin Díaz on the injured list.
Atlanta has won 20 of 27 since the last time it lost consecutive games, and Sunday brings Bryce Elder into the series finale. The three-game set doubles as a direct test of whether the Braves can keep pace with a Dodgers team that won 100 games or more for three straight years from 2021 to 2023 and became back-to-back World Series champions.
