Dodgers’ next hurdle is NLCS rematch with Braves

ATLANTA — The hard portion is over, right?

The Dodgers person already dispatched the 107-win San Francisco Giants, the squad that ended their tally of NL West part titles and threatened to nonstop them location for an aboriginal winter. No 1 other they volition look successful this postseason volition person astir arsenic galore wins oregon seemingly loom arsenic a comparable hurdle betwixt the Dodgers and back-to-back World Series championships.

Their National League Championship Series opponents opening Saturday, the Atlanta Braves, won conscionable 88 games during the regular play – the fewest of immoderate squad that qualified for the playoffs this year.

“Oh, antheral – that’s not however I’m looking astatine it and I don’t deliberation that’s however the squad is looking astatine it,” Cody Bellinger said successful the afterglow of Game 5 successful San Francisco. “They (the Giants) are evidently an unbelievable team. It’s an unbelievable win, to travel successful present and instrumentality that victory.

“But Atlanta is ne'er easy. I mean, they had america down 3-1 past year. So we’re not taking thing for granted, for sure.”

The Braves provided first-round velocity bumps for the Dodgers successful 2013 and 2018, losing successful 4 games successful an NLDS each time. Last year, they took that 3-1 pb successful the best-of-seven NLCS lone to suffer 3 consecutive to the Dodgers, who went connected to triumph their archetypal World Series successful 32 years.

That NLCS comeback was a transformative bid for the Dodgers. They person won six consecutive games erstwhile faced with postseason elimination – 3 consecutive implicit the Braves past year, the wild-card crippled against the St. Louis Cardinals this twelvemonth and the past 2 games of their NLDS with the Giants.

“The World Series was the World Series (against the Tampa Bay Rays). You’ve inactive got to triumph 4 games and not to instrumentality that lightly astatine all,” Roberts said. “But that NLCS and to travel backmost from that 3-1 shortage was everything. That Game 7 was conscionable arsenic important, if not bigger than Game 6 of the World Series. Getting done that surely gave america that momentum and assurance that we tin triumph 4 much games with our backs to the partition arsenic they were.”

If the Dodgers person go the eventual “hard out” successful October, Mookie Betts has been the hardest out. He has gone 13 for 24 (.542) successful those six elimination games with the Dodgers. According to Elias Sports, that is the astir hits successful MLB postseason past successful immoderate span of six elimination games.

Betts has fixed the Dodgers a backbone. But the squad has go truthful battle-tested successful October that Dodgers president of shot operations Andrew Friedman, soggy with the celebratory champagne Thursday nighttime astatine Oracle Park, acknowledged helium sensed that volition coming done against the Giants.

“I felt it during the crippled and wondered if it was going to travel done successful the aboriginal innings. I deliberation it did,” helium said. “It’s a hard happening to isolate. But I felt it, thought astir it and, I think, saw it. Our guys bash person a batch of acquisition going done this and I deliberation it helps, for sure.”

The Braves person made the playoffs each of the past 4 years. But their inability to onshore the knockout stroke against the Dodgers successful past year’s NLCS follows them into this matchup.

“They astir apt person a spot of a atrocious sensation successful their rima coming into this and are going to play with immoderate intent and we’ve got to beryllium acceptable for that,” 3rd baseman Justin Turner said.

“They mightiness not accidental it. But information of the substance is they get different accidental to get to the World Series and they’ve got to spell done us,” Roberts said. “Whether you privation to telephone it an accidental oregon redemption, it’s surely connected their minds.”

Braves manager Brian Snitker wasn’t consenting to motion disconnected connected that, alternatively focusing connected the familiarity his squad has with the Dodgers – though that isn’t needfully a affirmative thing.

“It’s ever challenging to spell up against this team. Are you kidding me? No substance however acquainted you are with this club. It’s challenging erstwhile you person a three-game bid against them,” Snitker said Friday.

The Braves bash person 2 imaginable advantages this clip astir that they didn’t person successful the 2020 NLCS – home-field vantage (last year’s bid was played successful the neutral-site bubble) and a pitching unit that has had 3 days of remainder since closing retired the Milwaukee Brewers.

But the Dodgers’ pitching unit held the Giants – the second-highest scoring squad successful the NL this play (behind the Dodgers) – to conscionable 10 runs and a .182 batting mean successful the 5 NLDS games and has allowed a full of 4 runs implicit 27 innings erstwhile facing elimination this postseason.

“The arms that they person – each azygous at-bat, starting pitching, bullpen – are immoderate of the astir elite arms successful the game,” Giants outfielder Darin Ruf said aft Game 5. “You tin person an approach. You tin person a crippled plan. Executing it against that level of quality is evidently precise hard. I deliberation we had large approaches, large crippled plans. Obviously, you request balls to fall. You request breaks.

“But their arms are really, truly good.”