The Dodgers left Atlanta with more than a sweep on the scoreboard. They also left with a reminder that the Braves have been a problem all season, and with Dave Roberts openly saying he’d welcome another crack at them in October.
Los Angeles had chances in all three games, but the big hit never showed up and the big out never came when it was needed. Atlanta stole the first two games late, with closer Tanner Scott taking the hit in both of those finishes. Then in the finale, Chris Sale took over completely, working a complete-game shutout and allowing only five hits.
Roberts wasn’t interested in treating the series like a dead end. He framed it as a test the Dodgers would be ready to take on again.
“It seemed like we were always chasing,” Roberts said. “It’s hard to play from behind.
Your margins are much thinner, smaller. And when you don’t capitalize on opportunities, then you come up on the short end.
But like I said, they’re a good ballclub. They do things the right way.
And we’ll look forward to seeing them in October.”
That’s not just talk, either. Atlanta has now taken five of six from Los Angeles this season, and the sweep also gave the Braves the tiebreaker over the Dodgers in the standings. With the race for the top two spots in the NL so tight, that matters.
The bigger concern for Los Angeles is that this wasn’t an isolated bad stretch. The Dodgers also dropped three of four to the Milwaukee Brewers recently, and the pattern against top teams has become hard to ignore. Since late July, they’re 1-12 against clubs currently in a playoff position, and the team has been swept more than once in that span.
There are signs the pitching is starting to come back together, but Thursday’s loss was another nudge in the same direction: the offense has to carry more of the load. The series against the Detroit Tigers only reinforced that point.
The recent run from the rotation has been strong. Over the last three games, Blake Snell threw five innings and allowed one earned run with 10 strikeouts, Tarik Skubal went six innings and gave up one earned run with seven strikeouts, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered 6.1 innings, one earned run, and eight strikeouts. Even with that kind of work, the Dodgers still lost two of those games.
Help is on the way. All-Star catcher Will Smith is expected back soon, which should ease some of the strain on the lineup. But it won’t fix everything on its own.
And now the Dodgers are also dealing with the loss of Andy Pages for the next few weeks, a blow that thins the offense even more. If the bats don’t wake up, the team may have to reach into the minors for a prospect.
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