The Los Angeles Dodgers are moving on again, and they did it with the kind of late punch that has defined so many of their October runs. A 4-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves in Game 4 of the NLDS on Wednesday sent Los Angeles into the NLCS for a third straight season and kept alive its chase for a third consecutive World Series title.
The decisive swing came in the seventh inning, when the Dodgers loaded the bases against Tyler Mahle and Didier Fuentes and Andy Pages delivered a two-RBI single to break things open. After the game, Pages told Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, "I think from the beginning of the series I was looking for a moment like that," Pages told Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports after the win. "You try to get a good pitch and swing at a good pitch, and I was lucky to do that."
Los Angeles added more breathing room in the ninth when Max Muncy launched a 104-mph home run. It was the 36-year-old’s 19th career postseason homer, another big October swing from one of the Dodgers’ most seasoned bats.
The bullpen finished the job after Tyler Glasnow’s outing got messy. Glasnow walked five in 4 2/3 innings, but Alex Vesia, Edgardo Henriquez, Tanner Scott, and Edwin Díaz took over and didn’t allow a run over the final frames, limiting Atlanta to two hits.
Mahle, meanwhile, absorbed the loss despite turning in a solid start. He gave up one earned run in 6 1/3 innings, but the Braves couldn’t capitalize, going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
For the Dodgers, the win marked another chapter in an October stretch that just keeps rolling. This is their 14th straight postseason run, and during that span they’ve reached the World Series five times and won it three times.
"We talked about this, there is no more talented team than the Los Angeles Dodgers. It's the best organization in sports, top to bottom," Roberts said in the clubhouse following the win.
"We're smarter, we're better, and we're tougher."
Now Los Angeles waits to see who’s next. The Dodgers will face either the Milwaukee Brewers or the San Diego Padres in the National League Championship Series, which begins Sunday.
For Atlanta, the defeat extends a frustrating pattern. The Braves have not gotten past the division series since their 2021 World Series championship.
In Other News...
Braves Just Made A Desperate Lineup Bet In A Must Win Game
Michael Harris II is at the top of the Braves lineup for an upcoming playoff game against the Dodgers, a clear sign Atlanta is leaning into a different look as it tries to keep its season moving. Ronald Acua Jr. is back in right field, giving the Braves their usual jolt in the outfield and another piece of star power in a matchup where every tweak matters.
Los Angeles is answering with its own changes, putting Mookie Betts back in the leadoff spot and sliding Shohei Ohtani into cleanup. The game will also have a different voice on the call, with Brandon Gaudin filling in for Joe Davis, but the bigger focus is on how both clubs have shuffled their cards for a postseason game that already feels loaded with pressure. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Are Suddenly One Loss From A Brutal Dodgers Exit
The Braves had chances early, but they could not cash in against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and that left them chasing the game for most of the night in a 3-1 loss to the Dodgers in Game 2 of the National League Division Series. Chris Sale gave Atlanta five innings and allowed three runs, but the combination of missed opportunities and a dominant outing from Yamamoto, who struck out 10 over seven innings, tilted the series back in Los Angeles favor.
Now Atlanta heads into Game 4 facing elimination, with Tyler Mahle expected to take the ball as the margin for error disappears. The Braves have already put themselves in a difficult spot by dropping behind 2-1, and the next game will ask them to do what they have not done enough of so far in the series: turn early traffic on the bases into the kind of breakthrough inning that can keep their postseason alive. [Read more 🡒]
Braves May Have Exposed A Costly Dodgers NLDS Problem
Miguel Rojas night in Game 3 of the NLDS ended early, and it added another layer of uncertainty to a Dodgers lineup already trying to keep pace with the Braves. Los Angeles said the veteran infielder was taken out because of low back pain after fouling a pitch in the eighth inning, with the issue apparently dating back to an earlier play when he was fielding a ground ball in the fifth.
For Atlanta, any hit to the Dodgers infield depth is the kind of opening a postseason opponent watches closely. Rojas has long been valued for the steadiness he brings on defense and the flexibility he gives Los Angeles, so the bigger concern now is not just whether he can finish the series, but whether the Dodgers have to rethink how they manage the rest of their postseason roster if the back issue lingers. [Read more 🡒]