One is the number. What number, you may ask? One win that the Dodgers look for before leaving Atlanta? One-run losses as the theme of this series against the Braves? One unequivocally poor performance in a season’s worth of games for Chris Sale, who in all but one of his 23 starts this season has allowed no more than three earned runs? There are ones all over the place.
For as dominant as Sale has been in 2026, the veteran southpaw has also gone through an issue in that the Braves’ record in his starts
doesn’t accurately reflect his level of dominance. It’s not even entirely a run support issue given that Atlanta averages a little over 5 runs per game in his starts but more of a distribution problem. Despite the Braves’ outstanding campaign, they’ve too often failed to capitalize on dominant starts by their ace, possessing only a 13-10 record when Sale takes the mound. One of those losses came against the Dodgers when these two clubs last met in early May. The former Cy Young winner did his usual thing with seven quality innings, but the Braves offense had no answers to Emmet Sheehan and the Dodgers’ bullpen in a 3-1 loss.
In fact, Sale comes into this game having pitched three straight quality starts in August only to lose each one of them as the Braves offense has let him down with just five runs across three games. Meanwhile, the Dodgers starter, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, relishes the challenge of pitching on the road against a Braves offense with far superior numbers at home (.760 OPS at home and .690 away). Yamamoto comes into this game having helped the Dodgers to a win in each of his last six starts away from home.
Thursday game info
- Teams: Dodgers at Braves
- Stadium: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
- Time: 4:15 p.m. PT
- TV: SportsNet LA, FS1 (National)
- Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 (Spanish)
