Historic Braves Fall Short in the NLCS

Bryse Wilson's unexpectedly great start in the Braves Game Four win against Clayton Kershaw was the highlight of the NLCS for me. 

It had been 19 years since the Atlanta Braves made to the National League Championship Series.  Going up against the Los Angeles Dodgers, best team in baseball during the regular season, we had quite a task ahead of us.  Would our young starting pitchers keep it going?  Would the Braves bats stay hot?  A long-time friend of mine and I have been in touch almost daily since mid-August about these Braves.  He grew up a Giants fan so there is no love lost between either of us and the Dodgers.  We were both apprehensive because 1) the Braves have found so many ways to choke in the postseasons past and 2) the Dodgers are such a solid, talented ball club.  

No baseball "expert" thought the Braves could beat the Dodgers.

Max Fried started off shaky in the first two innings but, once again (and this can not be overstated), this postseason when the Braves' get into trouble they get the pitch they need to get out of it.  Fried gave up one run and struck out nine in six innings of work followed by the best bullpen in baseball shutting the Dodgers down.  After Freddie Freeman gave us a 1-0 lead on a homer run in the first, the rest of the team came alive in the ninth (once again, we bat better in the late innings, what used to be called "clutch") with young Austin Riley, blasting "the biggest home run of his life," followed by a double by Ronald Acuna, Jr., an RBI single by Marcell Ozuna followed by a two-run homer by Ozzie Albies for a stunning 5-1 Braves win.

It was typical 2020 Braves win.  A bit of a shaky start followed by outstanding pitching and power-driven runs scored late in the ballgame.  As I had said before, I had never seen a Braves team playing so well as a team than these Braves are right now.  The Braves seem to all be peaking at precisely the right moment.

And this moment continues to be a historic one.  Quoting Mark Bowman from MLB's wrap on the game: "With their ninth-inning eruption, which included Ozzie Albies’ two-run homer, the Braves improved to 13-1 in games started by Fried this year. They have won their first six games this postseason -- becoming just the seventh team to do so -- with the help of a pitching staff that has allowed just six runs over 58 innings (0.93 ERA). That ties the 1983 Orioles for the fewest allowed through the first six games of a postseason."

Nevertheless, I was still nervous going into Game Two.  It's strange but I kept thinking "this is could end tonight."  Soon, I thought, we would have a game and the Braves would stop peaking as a team.  You never know when these hot streaks will end and I have rarely seen an Atlanta team so on fire and in sync as these Braves.  It just couldn't last, could it?  

Ian Anderson, the minor league pitcher who became our No. 2 starter took his outstanding pitching resume to the mound and proceeded to pitch four shutout innings.  He was saved once by a fantastic defensive play on both ends by Riley and Freeman.  The bad news was that he walked five and struggled to make it through every inning.  He just did not have his best stuff.  But the Braves bats, led by another Freeman home run, managed to stitch together enough runs against the good Dodger pitchers to win a tense game 8-7.  

After two more shutout innings by Tyler Matzek, I was feeling pretty cocky.  That was my mistake against an explosive team like the Dodgers.  The Braves were winning 7-0 going into the bottom of the seventh and looked to be in command.  Late in the game was typically when the Braves bullpen shuts opposing batters down but that's not what happened.  Darren O'Day was pulled after giving up two hits to three batters.  A.J. Minter, who had been dominant this season, came in and gave up a three-run homer to Corey Seager.

Suddenly, the Dodgers were back in the ball game.  You could feel the precious momentum we had enjoyed all postseason begin to shift.  I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.  Chris Martin made me feel a little better by successfully pitching a scoreless eighth.  Albies, who had a big night at the plate with three hits, blasted a home run in the top of the ninth to make it 8-3.  That turned out to be an "insurance run" that we would desperately need.

To their credit the Dodgers stunned the Braves by putting up four runs in the bottom of the ninth and had a runner at third.  Most of the damage was done against Josh Tomlin but Mark Melancon came in and managed to leave that runner stranded at third.  Whew!  That was an ugly win.

But the Braves were up two games to none in the series.  If the Dodgers were going to win the NLCS in 2020 they would have to beat the Braves four out of the next five games.  On the flipside, the Braves only needed to win two out of the next five.  Be that as it may, the series momentum had definitely shifted to the mighty Dodgers going in to Game Three.  It seemed weird for the Dodgers to lose twice but have the mojo going against Kyle Wright in Game Three.  Even after winning the first two games, it was still a long way to the World Series for the Atlanta Braves. 

Some side notes:  The Albies home run in Game One was causally caught by Melancon in the bullpen as he, the pitcher, was warming up, which was pretty cool to see.  But it happened again in Game Two!  What are the odds?!  Adam Duvall, who had supplied the Braves with so much power in 2020, was injured while batting in Game One.  He was replaced on the roster by Johan Camargo.  Meanwhile, minor leaguer Cristian Pache was inserted in the lineup for Duvall.  Pache only had four at bats previously in the majors and now suddenly found himself playing in the NLCS.  Pache earned two walks in the Game One and had a double with an RBI in Game Two.  That was a great example of how most everything was going in the Braves favor this postseason.  Finally and more significantly, Dodger ace Clayton Kershaw was suppose to start Game Two but was scratched due to back spasms.  When/if he would be able to pitch against the Braves was questionable.  This was definitely in our favor as we had only beaten him once in the last ten seasons.

Having the No. 1 seed on the playoffs, the Dodgers were the home team for the first two games.  For Game Three the teams switched with the Braves being the "home team" and batting last.  Of course, no one physically went anywhere because, due to COVID-19, we were playing in "the bubble" at a neutral stadium, Globe Field in Arlington, Texas.

Wright totally sucked.  The Dodgers scored an historic 11 runs in the first inning before the Braves even had a chance to bat.  Oh yeah, the momentum was all with the Dodgers for sure.  Mookie Betts hit Wright's first pitch down the third base line and was safe on a reversed call close play to lead-off the game.  Seager sent Wright's second pitch of the game into the left field gap for a double, Betts scored all the way around from third.  Two pitches and it was already 1-0.  Things only got worse after that and Wright was gone without ever even making it out of the first inning and the Braves trailing 7-0.  You will never a more pathetic starting performance in your life.  Wright (94.50 ERA !) sucked.

Grant Drayton came in to put out the fire, but he used gasoline, allowing a grand-slam to cap a historic 11-run first inning in the NLCS.  Let's review all the ways that nightmare of an inning made the wrong kind of history for the historic 2020 Atlanta Braves.  1) The Braves became the first team in postseason history to allow 10 or more runs on the postseason inning multiple times.  The St. Louis Cardinals crushed us last year with 10 runs in the first inning of Game Five of the NLDS.  2) Never before had any team hit three home runs in a single postseason inning.  Joc Pederson, Edwin Ríos and Max Muncy all did that. 3) No team had ever scored 11 runs in the first inning of a postseason game.

Ugh.  We had an ugly victory in Game Two an even uglier loss in Game Three.  It just felt ugly to be a Braves fan at that moment.  To be honest, I started laughing after Brian Snitker took Wright out of the game and Drayton gave up the grand-slam.  I thought of that roadkill animal in the middle of the road that has been run over so many times that you can no longer recognize what kind of animal it was.  That was the Braves in Game Three.  Unrecognizable roadkill.  The Braves lost the game 15-3.

There were just a couple of "silver linings."  First off, since it was a blow-out, Travis d'Arnaud finally got a break from catching every postseason game.  After one at-bat Tyler Flowers came in to give d'Arnaud the rest of the night off.  Also, Pache hit the first home run of his young career which made the game, at the time, 15-1.  Pache became only the sixth player in MLB history to hit their first home run in the playoffs.  Finally...Wright only threw 28 pitches.  As bad as he sucked in Game Three, his arm would be relatively fresh if the Braves needed him later in the NLCS.  I was hoping it wouldn't come to that, of course.

Even though Snitker stoically said "we're still in a good spot," the Dodgers clearly had all the momentum going in to Game Four.  Now we reached a critical point that I dreaded the whole postseason.  The Braves won the NL East with basically one decent starting pitcher.  Anderson and Wright had risen to the occasion late in September to be (theoretically) competent enough to provide decent starts in the short, five-game Wild Card and Division Series', which fortunately the Braves had both swept.  But this was the Championship Series, the best of seven just like the World Series.  

So now we came to the problem of who would start for the Braves after three games.  Bryse Wilson, another promising Braves pitcher with basically only a couple decent outings all season, would take the mound in Game Four.  And the Dodgers announced their ace, Kershaw, would finally pitch against us.  On paper, it looked like a Braves loss for sure.   

After that, I had no idea what the Braves might do.  Bring back Fried on short rest?  Snitker had to use Huascar Ynoa for four innings of shutout ball, with four strikeouts.  It was the smart choice.  Ynoa was the only solid pitcher we had that night and even he had to pitch out of trouble.  But Ynoa was (theoretically) going to start Game Four so Fried would have regular rest for Game Six.  That wasn't possible anymore.  Ynoa wouldn't be ready to pitch again until Game Seven, if needed.  The historic 2020 Atlanta Braves were out of fresh arms.  Our lack of depth in starting pitching was an obvious cloud hanging over us all along.  But that was in the future.  Right now, we had to try to beat Kershaw with our bats and an unproven Wilson making his postseason debut. 

There were no "travel" days during the seven-game series due to the COVID reality of playing in "the bubble."  This accentuated Atlanta's greatest weakness because, with only three starters, you had to fill two positions with pitchers who were not proven.  So it was that David met Goliath.  Wilson was a no body pitching in the NLCS against Kershaw, a future Hall of Famer, who was making his 28th postseason start.

As the story goes, David (Wilson) shocked everyone.  He was stellar in his first ever postseason start, allowing just one hit and striking out 5 in six solid innings.  Meanwhile, the Braves bats exploded with a 6-run sixth inning, chasing Goliath (Kershaw) from the mound en route to a remarkably satisfying 10-2 Game Four win.  It was the first time the Braves have ever beaten Kershaw in the postseason and only the second time they have beaten him since 2010.

Both Acuna and Ozuna had been struggling against Dodger pitching.  That changed in Game Four.  Acuna scored two runs on two hits.  Meanwhile, Ozuna had a monster night at the plate, with four hits (two homers) and 4 RBIs.  Freeman and Albies both had two hits.  Swanson, Riley, Camargo, and Pache also added hits.

All that was wonderful to see.  Jennifer and I were glued to the TV cheering on the Braves in general and Wilson in particular.  We had watched Wilson pitch back on September 22 against Miami, which gave Atlanta their third straight NL East title.  He looked really sharp in five innings of shutout ball while striking out seven to record his first and only win of the regular season.  Since then Jennifer kept asking me when would we see "that new pitcher" again.  She was probably the only person in the world other than Wilson's friends and family that excited to watch him pitch again.  Never mind the situation.  She was cheering him on after every out.  Wilson was now her new favorite player.

Well, we certainly needed him.  The Braves bullpen completed the game, though Will Smith did not pitch well, which necessitated Snitker using Martin when he probably would would have rather given him another night off.  Matzek and Shane Greene finished off the Dodgers in good order.

Making only his seventh major league start, Wilson baffled the fine Dodger batters while surpassing his highest pitch count and throwing longer in a major league game than ever before.  He never really struggled.  Once again, the historic 2020 Atlanta Braves experienced the intangible effect of some unexpected player rising to the occasion to help carry the load.  Which was why, to repeat myself, I had never in my life seen a Braves team playing so well as a team. 

Afterwards, I was feeling really good.  I knew I was witnessing something rare.  That "next man up" and "mix it up" mentality was making up for every Atlanta miscue and shortcoming.  But I definitely wasn't cocky anymore.  The tail whipping in Game Three had humbled me.  I knew the Dodgers could come back and win the next three games.  Still, we had regained the momentum and had a chance to win the National League pennant in our home uniforms going into Game Five.  

One thing we did not have was a starting pitcher.  Snitker announced before Game Four that Fried and Anderson would pitch on "regular rest" in Games Six and Seven respectively (if needed).  That meant that the Atlanta bullpen would have to pitch the whole of Game Five.  Snitker would have to manage the situation carefully.  He definitely wanted to win the game but he could not afford to burn up the whole bullpen in case they were needed if the series went six or seven games.  Even up three games to one against the best the best team in baseball it still felt like a long way to the World Series.

Alex Jordan (A.J.) Minter had previously appeared in 139 MLB games.  Game Five would be his first professional start, the first time a pitcher made his major league debut as a starter in MLB history.  I thought it was a bold move by Snitker, the most interesting choice of the series so far.

And a smart one for a "bullpen game."  Minter was dominant, striking out a career high seven batters in three solid innings, the longest outing of his professional career.  He left with the Braves leading 2-0 going into the fourth. Unfortunately, most of the other Braves relievers could not match Minter's fine effort.  Tomlin pitched two scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth, but every other Braves pitcher gave up at least one run.  

I found myself wishing Minter had been able to throw six innings.  That is how I am as a Braves fan.  I play tons of "what-ifs" in my head all the time.  I guess every baseball fan or fan of any sport does that.  It is part of the entertainment value of the sport.  

But Minter was a relief pitcher.  He usually pitched only one inning, sometimes less.  We got a phenomenal effort out of him.  By this point in the series, we had used every pitcher we had in some capacity.  We had literally thrown everything we had at the Dodgers.  We were simply running out of arms. 

The major blow came when a now obviously struggling reliever Will Smith gave up a 3-run homer to Dodger catcher Will Smith with two strikes and two out in the sixth.  It was the first batter-pitcher match-up between players with the same name in postseason history.  That gave LA the lead and the momentum. 

Things got worse in the seventh when Betts added an RBI single and before Seager broke the game open with a 2-run blast off Jacob Webb.  The Dodgers defeated the Braves bullpen 7-3 to send the series to Game Six.  Perhaps the biggest play of the game was a great catch by Betts and a baserunning mistake by Ozuna at third base which would have put the Braves up 3-0.  Ozuna scored but was ruled out upon review when he left the base early.  Acuna, Albies, and Swanson were all hitless for the Braves.

Now we were back to the Game One pitchers.  Belcher for the Dodgers and Fried for the Braves.  The Dodgers become the home team again.  The good news for the Braves going in to Game Six was that Fried was fully rested and both Martin and Melancon (arguably two bullpen aces) were not used in Game Five and would be ready out of the bullpen, if needed.  Snitker had set his pitching up to win Game Six with the best pitchers we had.

As it turned out, we didn't use Melancon.  We never led or even tied the Dodgers in a close 3-1 Game Six loss.  Dodger starter Walker Buehler pitched an outstanding shutout through six innings. Fried started off rough, allowing three runs in the first inning.  Then he showed everyone what he was made of.  Losing, he continued to pitch, actually outlasting Buehler in the game, throwing blanks after allowing two home runs in the first.  

After being down 3-0, Max knew his job was to stay in the game as long as possible so the Braves could keep their bullpen fresh for Game Seven.  He showed a great deal of poise and maturity which boded well for his future - which I still hoped would include a 2020 World Series start against the Tampa Bay Rays.

After Acuna smashed a RBI double in the seventh, Betts robbed Ozuna of what could have been a huge extra base hit making the game 3-2.   Instead, it would be scored as just a fly-out to end the inning.  The Braves managed to load the bases in the second inning but could not score.  Everything seemed to be going the Dodgers' way.  They seemed to be getting all the breaks and had all the momentum.  It was crazy how much the mojo had shifted back and forth through this NLCS.  Which is usually the sign of a great, exciting series.  

I still felt we would win going in to the decisive Game Seven.  Ian Anderson would be on the mound, looking to extend his 15.2 scoreless inning streak in the postseason.  Our bullpen was mostly rested.  Acuna seemed to be hitting the ball again.  Ozuna was making good contact.  Freeman had been hot.  Swanson was starting to play great baseball.  Albies was playing solid.  Our bats were capable of having a big breakout inning at any time.  But, of course, the same could be said of the Dodgers.  I felt like whoever scored first in the game would win it.

Anderson was the youngest pitcher in baseball history to start the seventh game of a Championship Series.  He constantly struggled through three innings, giving up two runs.  The Braves answered with three runs including a big home run by Swanson, but otherwise managed only three hits the whole night.  Our bullpen could not shut down the powerful Dodger hitters and we lost the game 4-3.  

Bellinger hit a solo homer in the seventh to give the Dodgers a lead they would not relinquish.  Betts robbed Freeman (again!) of a home run with another fantastic catch.  That made three games in a row his outstanding defense kept Atlanta from scoring.  Atlanta made too many mistakes and did not deserve to win the game.  The biggest mistake was literally running themselves into a double-play with two runners in scoring position.  I wanted to throw my television out the window when I saw that pathetic little league type play.

Snitker gave a fine, level-headed post-game interview where he mixed in the sweet with the bitter.  We made mistakes.  We made some great plays to get into the position to advance to the Worlds Series.  But we fell short.  Freeman put things in proper perspective: "This is the start of something special for a long time."

We made it all the way to Game Seven of the NLCS with only one of our five starting pitchers slated for opening day.  That was a tremendous accomplishment.  Nevertheless, it was not the result we wanted with the opportunity ultimately presented to us.  So, yeah, I'm disappointed.  Close is far more frustrating than not-a-chance.  After 21 seasons, it is still a long way to the World Series.  And it feels even longer right now because the Series starts tomorrow night and we are not in it.  We haven't been in it since last century (1999) and we won't have our chance again until October 2021 (hopefully).

Will we ever again come together as a team the way we did through September and most of the postseason?  I have rarely seen it before.  It is a precious thing when it happens.  And it can be a fleeting, fragile thing too.  I hope Freeman is right.  I hope we are closer to the beginning of our greatest than to the end of it.  It sucks right now.  But for the Braves, right now doesn't matter any more, until next season.