The Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers will face off in the National League Championship Series (NLCS), which begins on Saturday night.
The Atlanta Braves defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 3-1 in the series, advancing them to the next stage of the play-offs. The Los Angeles Dodgers scraped through with a Game 5 win against the San Francisco Giants, sending the current world champions through.
TIBS NEWS looks at both teams ahead of the series.
The Atlanta Braves – how did they get here?
The Braves took advantage of the lack of Brewers offense and scraped just enough runs against their loaded pitching staff to make it through. Milwaukee won Game 1 of the series, a low scoring affair in which unlikely hero Rowdy Tellez crushed a two-run home run off Braves ace Charlie Morton. That would be all the runs required, as CY Young favourite Corbin Burnes shut out the Braves through six innings, with the dominant bullpen doing the rest.
The Braves would return the favour in Game 2, as they shut out the Braves by a score of 3-0. Max Fried, a star for the Braves this season, tossed six strong innings allowing just three hits while striking out nine Brewer batters. The Braves bullpen was elite in Game 2, with closer Will Smith escaping trouble in the penultimate inning – sending the teams to Atlanta with the series tied.
One swing of the bat by Joc Peterson gave the Braves all the runs they needed to beat the Brewers 3-0 in Game 3. Peterson, acquired at the trade deadline, has turned into a fan favourite in Atlanta, and the fans were screaming his name even more when he crushed a three-run home run to put the Braves in the lead. The Braves pitching was elite all series, shutting out the Brewers in back-to-back games.
A late Freddie Freeman go-ahead home run sent the Braves to the NLCS, as they defeated the Brewers 5-4. There is arguably no more consistent hitter than Freddie Freeman, so it felt right that he crushed a home run off the usually dominant closer, Josh Hader. The Brewers managed to score just six runs in the series, proving the Braves pitching has what it takes to make a deep postseason run this year.
The Los Angeles Dodgers – how did they get here?
It took all five games to decide the winner of the National League Division Series (NLDS) between the Dodgers and the Giants, arguably the two favourites to win the World Series this season.
In Game 1 of the series, Giants rookie pitcher Logan Webb silenced the Dodgers offense, allowing no runs over eight innings while striking out 10 batters. The Giants scored four runs, all on home runs hit by veterans Buster Posey, Kris Bryant and Brandon Crawford. Game 2 saw the Dodgers offense fight back, scoring nine runs off the Giants pitching staff. The 2019 NL MVP Cody Bellinger was the offensive star for the Dodgers, with a clutch two-run double, putting the game out of reach for the Giants.
Game 3 of the series was played at Dodger Stadium and followed the same storyline as Game 1. The Giants’ pitching was dominant, shutting out the Dodgers in their backyard. The Giants only run came off the bat of veteran Evan Longoria, who crushed a home run in the fifth. In Game 4, the Dodgers offense jumped all over Giants starter Anthony DeSclafani. Dodgers superstar Mookie Betts was the star for LA; crushing a three-run home run, putting the game out of reach and sending it to a winner-takes-all Game 5.
Bellinger hit a go-ahead single in the ninth inning when the winner takes all game five to put the Dodgers ahead 2-1. The Giants would have the winning run at the plate with two outs in the inning before he was retired on a controversial check-swing call made by third base umpire Gabe Morales.
The Dodgers and the Braves faced off six times in the 2021 regular season. The Dodgers were victorious in four games, whereas the Braves managed just two wins.
Reasons to be excited
The Dodgers vs Braves NLCS promises to be one of the best play-off series we have seen in recent history. Game 1 of the series is on Saturday, with the first pitch thrown at 1:07am BST. With this, the series format changes, now being a best-of-seven series, meaning the first team to four wins advances to the World Series.
