Dodgers' NLDS Game 1 power surge should have Walt Weiss rethinking Braves' entire strategy

The Atlanta Braves' first bullpen game of the postseason worked out well for them. They had a folk hero emerge in Ray Kerr, a 32-year-old reliever who once worked at a 7-Eleven after quitting baseball, pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings in their decisive Wild Card game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Atlanta went on to win 6-2 to advance to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS.

Manager Walt Weiss decided to run back the bullpen-first approach for Game 1 against LA, with Dylan Dodd on the mound this time. Come Saturday, Dodd, too, pitched three scoreless innings against LA.

But it was a bit of a funny juxtaposition, seeing Dodd on the mound against vaunted Dodgers starter Tarik Skubal. Skubal pitched six one-run innings; his only blemish was a solo homer to Sean Murphy.

Murphy's shot put the Braves within one in the middle of the sixth — Teoscar Hernández hit a two-run shot in the fourth — but if Atlanta had any hope of coming back after that, Kyle Tucker quickly put an end to it.

With a man on base in the bottom of the inning, he hit a two-run homer to put LA up 4-1. Max Muncy followed with a two-out solo shot of his own.

Dodgers take NLDS Game 1 with a strong start for Tarik Skubal, homers galore

The Braves made things a little more interesting down to their last three outs, when Ozzie Albies hit a two-run homer off of Tanner Scott to close the gap to two runs. Evan Phillips was called in for the last out of the game, and despite giving up a walk, he ended the game without more damage.

Weiss has already said that he won't be starting Chris Sale, another hero of the Braves' Wild Card Game 3, in Game 2 of the NLDS. Instead, Atlanta may be headed to another bullpen game. He should be heavily reconsidering that after the display the Dodgers put on in Game 1.

Blake Snell is the next man up. Despite some grumbling from Dodgers fans about Yoshinobu Yamamoto being relegated to Game 3, Dave Roberts clearly wanted to stack his lefty starters against a Braves lineup that struggles against them, to give the Dodgers their best chance at a commanding lead when the series moves to Atlanta. Yamamoto might be able to wrap up this whole thing on Tuesday.

There was some worry about the Dodgers' offense heading into October, given their rocky road through the regular season. Saturday's display put it to rest.

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