The Atlanta Braves left Los Angeles with the same problem plenty of teams run into against the Dodgers: even when the plan starts working, the margin for error disappears fast.
Atlanta opened its National League Division Series with a 5-3 loss on Saturday, and the game quickly turned into a familiar kind of scramble. The Braves leaned into a bullpen game after riding the momentum of their three-game Wild Card Series win over Philadelphia, but the early pitching formula only held for so long before the Dodgers broke through and put the pressure squarely on Atlanta’s offense.
Dylan Dodd gave the Braves exactly the kind of start they were hoping for from an opener. The 28-year-old left-hander worked three scoreless innings, struck out four and allowed just two baserunners.
He punched out the side in the second and threw a season-high 47 pitches, his most since he logged 53 against the Astros on Sept. 13, 2025.
The outing mattered even more because of where Dodd has come from. He didn’t join Atlanta until May 19 after left thoracic spine inflammation kept him out for the opening stretch of the season, and he has since settled in as one of the club’s more dependable late-game arms. Entering Saturday, he had a 2.54 ERA over 49 2/3 innings.
But once the Braves turned away from Dodd, the game changed in a hurry. Víctor Mederos surrendered a two-run homer to Teoscar Hernández in the fourth, and the Dodgers kept adding in the sixth when Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy both went deep off AJ Smith-Shawver to stretch the lead to four.
Atlanta did not have much going against Tarik Skubal, who was making his seventh career postseason start and first as a Dodger. The two-time Cy Young Award winner gave up one run on two hits across six innings and struck out seven. The only damage came on Sean Murphy’s 421-foot solo home run.
The Braves did make things interesting late. They scored twice against Dodgers closer Tanner Scott in the ninth on Ozzie Albies’ two-run blast into the center-field bleachers. Evan Phillips then came in, walked Mauricio Dubón and brought the tying run to the plate in Austin Riley, but Riley grounded out to end it.
Even with the loss, Atlanta’s pitching picture remains fluid. The Braves are carrying 13 pitchers on their NLDS roster after adding Smith-Shawver and JR Ritchie following a Wild Card Series in which they used 11 pitchers.
The club has not announced a Game 2 starter, and manager Brian Snitker said before Saturday’s game that the rotation would stay on a day-to-day basis. Chris Sale, who started Tuesday’s Wild Card opener against Philadelphia and finished the series Thursday, is still in the mix despite the short rest.
“Everything is going to be day-to-day in the postseason,” Weiss said before Saturday’s game. “Especially after throwing bullpen games, that’s going to affect what you do the next day.
We just threw a bullpen game. But a lot of it comes down to how Sale is feeling.
We’re going to let him run around -- again, this has all happened very quickly. We celebrated Thursday night, we’re on a plane early Friday, got here last night.
We haven’t really had a whole lot of meeting time.
“The deciding factor is always going to be how Chris is feeling. Now, to me it’s not that big a deal when he pitches.
He’s going to pitch in this series. Dodgers can’t win it in two.
He’s going to pitch. It really doesn’t matter when.”
The Braves will need a quick reset, because Game 2 comes fast and the opponent does too. Sunday night brings another two-time Cy Young Award winner in Blake Snell, with first pitch set for 8 p.m. ET.
Atlanta still has options behind Dodd’s strong opener. Ritchie and Grant Holmes are available to cover bulk innings, while Dylan Lee, Robert Suarez and Raisel Iglesias remain the main late-inning arms. Ray Kerr and Didier Fuentes also add depth out of the bullpen.
In Other News...
Braves Face A Massive Game 2 Decision After NLDS Opener
The Braves opened their NLDS against the Dodgers with a 5-3 loss, and the postgame discussion quickly turned from the scoreboard to how Atlanta manages what comes next. Walt Weiss spent much of his time talking through bullpen usage and the way the game unfolded, while also noting how difficult Los Angeles made things on offense with Tarik Skubal on the mound.
Now the attention shifts to Game 2, where Atlanta is staring at a significant pitching question with Chris Sales availability still unsettled. The Braves will need a sharper offensive night after struggling in the opener, but the bigger issue may be how Weiss pieces together the pitching plan if Sale is not available. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Fans Have Every Right To Question This October Pitching Call
Atlantas postseason pitching choices are under the microscope after Brian Snitker said the bullpen had been emptied in the previous game and that some arms were unavailable because of injury. The manager pointed to the idea of getting the relief group rested for the next night, which helps explain the roster management behind the move, but it does not make the decision feel any less consequential in the middle of October.
Chris Sale being available only sharpens the debate, because this was the kind of game where the Braves had every reason to lean on their best options rather than sort through lower-tier arms. Instead, they went in a direction that left plenty of room for second-guessing, and for a fan base used to thinking big in the postseason, that is exactly the kind of call that sticks. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Already Face A Bigger NLDS Problem Than The Game 1 Loss
The Braves left Dodger Stadium with a Game 1 loss, but the score may not have been the most concerning part of the night. Los Angeles got six innings of one-run ball from Tarik Skubal and three home runs from Teoscar Hernndez, Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy in a 5-3 win, all of it unfolding in near-record heat that made for a grinding October opener.
Sunday evening brings Game 2, and Atlanta now has to answer more than just the immediate damage on the scoreboard. The bigger concern is whether the Braves can settle in quickly enough against a Dodgers team that already looked comfortable, while also coping with conditions that made every inning feel heavier than usual. [Read more 🡒]