Atlanta didn’t get the night it needed, and now the pressure lands squarely on the bats.
The Braves watched the Dodgers answer back with another power-driven win, powered by a sharp Yoshinobu Yamamoto outing and more damage over the fence. Atlanta still hasn’t scored any other way in the series, and Chris Sale became the latest pitcher to feel the weight of Los Angeles’ home-run habit.
Afterward, manager Walt Weiss gave the Dodgers credit for the way they handled Sale.
“They did a nice job of really grinding the at-bats and passing the baton,” conceded manager Walt Weiss when he was asked about the Dodgers’ approach against Sale in the postgame press conference. “[Sale] had to work hard.
He had to work hard to get the outs that he got. He looked like Chris Sale to me [but] they did a nice job.”
Weiss also said he believed Sale’s stuff was still there, even if the command wasn’t quite where it needed to be. However it looked from Atlanta’s dugout, the result was the same: Los Angeles was the better team on this night, and it responded well after Sale’s strong outing against the Dodgers back in August.
Now the Braves are staring at the part of October where reputation stops mattering and production does the talking. They need runs, and they need them from the heart of the order. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the rest of the Dodgers’ staff are a brutal assignment, but that’s the task in front of Atlanta.
That urgency falls heaviest on the stars - Drake Baldwin, Matt Olson and Ronald Acuña Jr. - who have been mostly quiet through the series. Acuña, in particular, has reached base and collected hits, but not at the level that usually comes with his name. He had a chance to change the feel of Game 3 in the fifth inning with two men in scoring position and two outs, but instead grounded out and let Atlanta’s best opening of the night disappear.
It was the kind of swing that could have flipped everything. A knock there, maybe a big homer, and the whole building changes. Instead, the moment passed, and so did Atlanta’s best shot to get back into the game.
The bigger concern for the Braves is that Acuña has not looked like the force they need, even if Weiss continues to insist the issue is not a mental one. Weiss said before the game that he hadn’t seen any ill effects from the lower leg contusion Acuña suffered in the final week of the regular season, and that the knee was in good enough shape for him to play. He also said both before and after the game that Acuña wasn’t pressing.
Still, the lineup needs more, and the clock is running. If Atlanta is going to extend its season, its biggest names have to start acting like it.
Game 4 will bring Tyler Mahle to the mound for the Braves, and he sounded ready for the challenge before Game 3.
“…All you can do out there is make pitches. I’m not trying to trick them.
[The Dodgers] know. They’ve seen me,” said Mahle when he was asked about approaching the Dodgers lineup in Game 4.
“I’m sure they’re going to watch film, whatever. So it’s making pitches at the right times and that’s all you can hope to do.”
Freddie Freeman offered the Dodgers’ side of the matchup after Game 3, and the message was pretty clear: don’t chase the splitter and don’t let Mahle live at the bottom of the zone.
“If you’re chasing splitters down below, you’re going to be in trouble,” explained Freeman when he was asked about dealing with Mahle. “Just like we did with Sale, you gotta get him in the zone, get him off the bottom and hopefully he makes mistakes and you’re on time for them.”
“I wish baseball was so much more of ‘This is what we’re gonna do’ but sometimes we strip it down and it’s not that complicated. If we can just get him up off the bottom of the zone, hopefully we can have some great success tomorrow. We’ve gotta treat every game like an elimination game.”
Mahle does have one recent memory the Braves would love to see repeated. Back in April, he threw seven shutout innings against the Dodgers as a member of the Giants.
Atlanta will need something close to that, and it will also need one of its stars to break out at the same time. The moment is right there.
Now the Braves have to take it. The season is on the line Wednesday night in Cobb County.
In Other News...
Ronald Acua Jr. Reopened Braves Drama Before A Huge Game 3
Ronald Acua Jr. added a fresh layer of intrigue around the Braves on the eve of Game 3 of the NLDS, using a Spanish-language podcast appearance to share his thoughts on the coaching staff. The comments centered on someone who is no longer with the team, and while Acua and his co-host stopped short of naming the person, the discussion was pointed enough to spark immediate speculation.
For Atlanta, the timing is what makes it stick. With a huge postseason game coming, the remarks have pulled attention back toward a familiar off-field storyline, even though the exact target of Acuas criticism still has not been confirmed. It is the kind of sidelight that can follow a team into October, especially when the baseball itself is about to matter even more. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Had To Change Their NLDS Plan Around Ronald Acua Jr
Ronald Acua Jr. was supposed to be part of the Braves Game 3 NLDS formula in the outfield, but the plan shifted as the series moved on. Lingering knee soreness from a slide in a previous game pushed Atlanta to make a late adjustment, moving Acua to designated hitter and reshaping the rest of the lineup around it.
Sean Murphy was scratched and Lane Thomas was added in right field, while the Braves kept their catching duties aligned behind Chris Sale by leaning on Drake Baldwin. Murphy still remains in the mix as a pinch-hitting option, a reminder that even in October, one nagging issue can force a team to redraw its blueprint on the fly. [Read more 🡒]
Braves-Dodgers Game 3 Just Took Two Unexpected Turns
The NL Division Series shifts to Atlanta with the stakes even again, and the broadcast booth is getting an unusual late change before first pitch. Joe Davis will not call Game 3 between the Dodgers and Braves because he lost his voice, so Kenny Albert is stepping in for the national telecast as the series heads to Tuesdays 6:00 ET matchup.
The on-field wrinkle is just as notable for a Braves team trying to seize control at home. Los Angeles is also altering its order, moving Shohei Ohtani into the fifth spot against Chris Sale, a move that adds another layer to a game already carrying plenty of pressure with the series knotted at 1-1. [Read more 🡒]