A strong bullpen and stellar defense have been calling cards for the Atlanta Braves all year. But slip ups on both fronts, combined with the consistently-inconsistent offense, doomed the Braves in Game 4 of the NLDS. By a final score of 4-1, the Los Angeles Dodgers eliminated the Braves at home and will advance to the NLCS.
As the only Braves player with an offensive pulse this entire postseason, Michael Harris II was already doing more than his fair share. But he was determined to put this team on his back
once more. After Tyler Mahle set down the Dodgers in a 1-2-3 top of the first, Harris single-handedly created a run. He laced the first pitch he saw for a single, stole second base, moved over to third base on a Matt Olson groundout, and scored on a wild pitch to get the Braves on the board 1-0. Mahle and Michael set the tone for a promising start.
Unfortunately, a leadoff walk to Shohei Ohtani to start the second immediately became consequential. An attempted strike’em out, throw ‘em out was botched on the back half, allowing Ohtani to get to third and giving Sean Murphy a throwing error. Mauricio Dubón earned an error of his own when he was unable to catch a pop up, allowing LA to tie it 1-1 and allowing Max Muncy to get to first. A double play erased both runners, but that was a blow to the burgeoning Atlanta momentum.
The Tyler-off then began in earnest. They traded off scoreless innings until their departures, and a batter never got further than first base until Glasnow walked two batters in the bottom of the fifth. Mahle only allowed singles to Andy Pages, Kyle Tucker, and Teoscar Hernández the rest of his outing.
Glasnow issued five free passes, and the Braves couldn’t cash in any of them for runs. The biggest opportunity was the aforementioned fifth, where Austin Riley led off with a walk before a Murphy lineout and Harris strikeout looking. Ronald Acuña Jr. worked a four-pitch walk, which prompted Dave Roberts to take Glasnow out of the game at 73 pitches. He summoned the lefty Alex Vesia to face Olson. Tension built… and immediately dissipated when Olson hit the first pitch he saw hard (107.8 miles per hour), but into the ground to end the frame.
Ozzie Albies hit a double off Vesia to start the home half of the sixth that would’ve been a home run in 29/30 ballparks. Yes, that’s correct, the only place it would not have been a homer is home sweet home, Truist Park. Baldwin lined out before Walt Weiss deployed Lane Thomas in Mike Yastrzemski’s spot. To counter, the Dodgers put in reliever Edgardo Henriquez, who got Thomas to ground out and Dubón to line out to strand Ozzie at second.
Mahle came back out for the top of the seventh and retired Ohtani. But a single by Teoscar Hernández would end his evening. Didier Fuentes entered with a runner on first and got Muncy to ground out. Struggling to find the zone, he issued walks to rookie Josue De Paula (pinch-hitting in place of Kiké Hernández) and Kyle Tucker to load the bases. Robert Suarez entered in a tough spot and on a 3-2 count, allowed a two-run single to nine-hole hitter Andy Pages. He got Mookie Betts to ground out on two pitches after, but the deadlock was broken and damage was done to make it 3-1 Los Angeles.
Harris, again, doing everything he can, hit a two-out double off Henriquez in the bottom of the seventh. But another first-pitch groundout, this one off the bat of Acuña Jr., quickly sent us to the eighth. Frustrated Braves Country fans at the park erupted in rare boos.
The Pages single was ballgame, but we played out the rest anyway. Max Muncy had a ninth-inning homer off Raisel Iglesias to get us to the final score. Rowdy Tellez got an AB in the bottom of the ninth and struck out. Dubón added to the tally of first-pitch outs. And finally, Austin Riley’s fly out was gloved by Kyle Tucker to seal this for the Dodgers. They will now celebrate that they have more baseball to play in our visiting clubhouse while we face an uncertain 2027. At least there will be plenty of time to reflect on what went wrong.
It’s been a pleasure and an honor, Braves Country. We hope to see you in the spring.
