Show #493: Braves vs Dodgers NLCS Preview

You're listening to Atlanta baseball talk. You're weekly podcast for all things at Atlanta Braves. [ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [ Welcome to Atlanta baseball talk, show number 493. Today's Sunday, October 11th, 2020, my name is Steve. I'm joined by both Hammy and Curtis and folks. Please help out the show by telling your friends sharing links and writing reviews. If you do it, the announcement of the Thomas

Dmitro of firing will happen in conjunction with the Dan Quinn announcement. Yes. Whoa. But didn't that right happen? No, they're finalizing the details of the Dan Quinn firing. Oh, okay. I might reach this 100,000 times just myself just to make that happen. You should tell people about the show, Kurt. You really should. I mean, looking back, that would have helped the number. It's a missed opportunity.

I mean, I check in with my mom every single week. So she knows. I assume she tells people. Sure. Oh, yeah. No, no. Those are the folks we're targeting. All right, folks. As crazy as it sounds, it is time to preview the Braves and Dodgers in the NLCS. But first, a quick break. So, boy, this is really happening. This is really happening. The Braves have won

two series in a row and are now facing the best team in the majors, the Los Angeles Dodgers, with a chance to go to the World Series. Guys, we've had some days to sort of sit around and wait for this thing to arrive. It's insane. I still can't quite believe that the NLCS starts tomorrow and we're part of it. And that it's not 2018. There's an

absolute chance. It isn't just, we'll be lucky to win one game like two years ago. You hope so. I feel all of that. I mean, I feel that 90% of the time. And then there's, you know, I get these 10% spots where I'm like, good God, the Dodgers are so good. Please just don't embarrass us. Please. And they won't because we're better than that. But you

know, you look into it. We have some thinner spots in the line. And then they do. We got the thin mention of early. Yeah. Yeah. I wanted to get Steve's blood. I wanted to get your blood boiling. So you could have an energetic show. All right. So look, before we get into what we'll be facing with this Dodgers team, and how they performed in their first

two playoff series, let's look at their numbers from the regular season. And they are impressive. The Dodgers finished the regular season with a record of 43 and 17, which is just a scene. 17, 17 winning percentage. No other team in baseball finished in the 700s in winning percentage, by the way. They finished the season on a four game win streak. And of course, of, you know,

swept their first two series as we have. So they have not lost a game in a long time. Let's look at their offense from the regular season. So the Dodgers were first and run scored at 349. The Braves were second at 348. Fifth and on base, 338. Braves were first at 349. Okay. Now, yeah. Dodgers tied for slugging with the Braves at number one, 483. Number

one in homers at 118. The Braves were two at 103. The Dodgers were number one in weighted runs created at 122. The Braves were number two, just one behind at 121. The pitching, you know, is a bit of a different story, which is not necessarily reflective of what we're going to see in the postseason. But the Dodgers starters were number two in ERA. Braves were 28th.

The Dodgers had a 329 ERA. The Braves 551. Starters number 10 in X-Fip. Braves 26th. The Dodgers were levers. Were number two in ERA. Braves were number four. Dodgers at 274. Braves at 3.5. Relievers, Dodgers, relievers in X-Fip number two at 388. The Braves number 13 at 441. Their relievers were number one in homers per nine at 0.82. The Braves were fifth at 0.99. Now, of

course, you remove Will Smith, who is a different pitcher now. You know, I think those homeruns per nine change a lot. So, hey, I'm look. They are the best team in baseball by record. Dodgers are 20th. So, it's not like the Dodgers had a much easier schedule. The Braves are much harder when they were right on the road there. So, you know, these numbers are legit

sort of stacking up against each other. Even though, obviously, they feasted on the West and some of the lower people in the West. And we did in the East. As well, even though we couldn't beat the Orioles, except for the Orioles. What we're going to say, Stevie? Well, I was going to ask you, Ham. So, talk about the Dodgers starters that we're going to see and

how they've done so far. And, you know, just how we match up. What do you see? A lot of good pitching and sort of a similar situation to us in terms of how how their starting rotation sort of plays out. Dave Roberts calls it up. It's a very powerful optionality in the terms that he says he knows that Bueller will be going. Dave one, he knows

Kershaw will be going game two. And then he'll see what happens and which that means is it will be some combination of Tony Gonsolin. Hulio Urias or Dustin May of the hair of the famous hair. You know, they they are not a traditional one through five. He against the Padres. He had Dustin May pitch one inning. And then he had a bunch of other guys come

in and close that out. So he did it by committee. He had Walker Bueller's had a blister. And he's only pitched four innings in his two postseason starts. So Urias Urias has pitched a lot there. So you're not going to get they don't stack up much like ours don't stack up really after right or Wilson, you know, even if Wilson is our fourth starter. But I

think that's what we're going to do. They're all better than our pitchers are. Well, those three guys had an amazing regular season. So Gonsolin, he pitch, he was two and two at eight starts a 2.31 ERA. He actually led the team in Whip with a 0.836. Dustin May was three and one. 2.57 ERA. He looked great. He was one of their better pitchers. Urias, three and

O and 10 starts looked amazing. You know, the only picture and Kershaw was, I mean, he if there wasn't all star season, he six and two, two point six, one six ERA, nine point six Ks for nine. He was dominant this season. Bueller actually wasn't 36 innings. He only got one decision in eight starts. So not going deep in these games. I'm sure because of whatever

they were holding him back. But he has not been himself. He's a 3.44 ERA. But in the playoffs, they've been great. They've been just like the braves have you haven't seen a lot of starters. You got two starts out of Bueller, two starts out of Kershaw. And then you got one that one start, that one one innings start out of May. Gonsolin didn't pitch. Urias did.

But so here's what you got Kershaw in his first start when eight scoreless, 13 Ks. Second start he was a little bit more hittable, six innings, three runs. He gave up two homers. But overall 14 in pitch in the post even 19 Ks, post season 19 Ks one based on ball. Bueller's been OK. Eight innings pitched. Like I said, he's only gone four innings in both

of his starts because of blisters. Three earn runs, 16 Ks. Tryg's out a lot of guys, but six walks. Like I said, no Gonsolin. Only three innings from May. He's four Ks. One based on ball. No earn runs. No hits. And Urias is looking to eight innings, pitch 11 Ks and eight innings, one walk, only four hits, one run. So these guys strike out a lot

of people. And they are all, you know, they can all pitch and go deep in the in the game. You know, I mean, I would say, you know, Max Fried, just for our numbers. And we only saw three starters. Obviously 11 in pitch, nine Ks. No walks, four earn runs over his 11 innings. Fried can beat Bueller the way that he's been going. I think Kurt,

to your point, I think the real star. Well, sorry. I may have, I may have spoiled something. Stay tuned. I think that I think that Kershaw and Anderson are well suited for each other. It's going to be a good matchup. But then I think I got to get a viage to the Dodgers. I think they're, their combo of those guys, Gonsolin May and Ria's just have

me, you know, right is good. These guys are a little bit more seasoned. They just had a better regular season. They too have a really good bullpen behind them, like lots of arms. And so, I don't know. I think they have the advantage. Yeah. It's interesting. Right. Bueller with his, with his blister and limited innings. I mean, Fried could go out there and, and be, you

know, an ace, right? And blow him out of the water. I mean, he could. Ian Anderson, we've only seen. Like the ceiling every single time he goes out. Um, this postseason. Yeah. And Kershaw. When he looks bad, he looks very mortal. Right. I mean, if you get, I mean, with our pitching, three runs could be all we need. You know, and Kershaw can give that up.

And certainly they've lineup. The fact that he gave up homers, the fact that Bueller walked guys. Yeah. I mean, Bueller walks six guys over those eight innings. Yeah. You don't want to do that against the braves, right? I mean, with, with so many runs being scored by the home run across the entire playoffs, and certainly by the braves, you know, walks will be really bad for

the Dodgers. Well, he also struck out 16 guys. Yeah, he did for those eight innings, which no pitcher in playoff history. It struck out at least eight guys. And it started four innings or less. And he did it. And back to back starts in this postseason. So, well, but luckily the braves barely strike out. They're, they're, they mainly make contact. They're contract team. Yes. Especially to

fall. And Riley. I mean, look, you reass and may, Gonson, those guys are all really good. But there is something about that. We actually have an established starter for game three. I mean, established and quotes. But, you know, a guy who in theory is going to go five or six innings. Yeah. But that, but Gonson will do it. He did that during the season. I mean,

he pitched 50. So he pitched as many innings as Kershaw Bueller. That's, that'll be, I bet, their third starter. that our intro actually worked already. Nice. That the Falcons have announced that both Quinn and Demitraoff have been relieved to their duties effective immediately. Nice. You did it. You caused your mom. I did it. I called my mom. I sent my mom a note. And she makes

things happen. Funny that. Yeah. I, whatever. For another show. Look, I, I guess I just don't think that it's so far off. You know, with all the hand ringing and insanity of our starting pitching. It's not like crazy, crazy. You know, the difference in my opinion. It isn't from the first three for me. Right. And I would even say if right looks like he did, you

know, against the Marlins, obviously, that would be amazing. Then I think, you know, he could go toe to toe with Gonson. I think, you know, asking Wilson and then who Tom will know, uh, Noah to go up against May, who's looked amazing. And Urias is looked really good to. I think those, it's, it's when you get to games four and five and maybe, you know, freeds

on short rest or whatever. But I don't see how that works in such a short week. No, they, yeah, we're going to fight. We're getting, I mean, I think they have advantage there. I think it's a wash for the first part. Right. A key will be that if our three established guys can go five or six. And we don't have to mess with Tomlin, for example,

right? Have some of those middle, uh, inning bullpen guys. Ready to cover games four and five. You know, if they are rested and fresh, that, that's going to make a lot of difference. Yeah. I think that the, the exposure becomes much less. If, if our first three starters go five or six innings, please dear God, but a piece of. Well, and if they can, you know,

we saw some jams that they were able to escape out of in these, these first two rounds. And if they can navigate through those, you just can't turn over the Dodgers lineup four or five times. You can't give them extra outs with, with errors or with base on balls, which, you know, they, they walk a lot. So it seems to me that it's going to come

down to that limiting them as much as, as you possibly can. Um, from adding extra runs through the walks scare me. Yeah, the walks and, you know, one forced errors and stuff. Like that. Um, that's the key to me. Yeah. They're going to be much more selective hitters. Um, then we saw with the reds in the Marlins. We're not going to be able to make them

chase as much. They're not going to go after stuff that's outside of the strike zone as much. They get. But the, the, I was going to have to be better. This park, the, the, um, the Rangers work. Yeah. It is, I mean, obviously the Dodgers will have a slight advantage there because they played there already in the Braves have never played. I'm sure they've gotten some

work in over these past few days, but, um, it is not, it is a very, very picture friendly park. Um, it does not give up home runs. Um, so it, guys are going to, they're going to have to earn, earn runs in this park. Um, so hopefully some of the guys that we saw, I know we'll get to it in a minute, but some of the

guys that had down series, these first two rounds can get stuff going because we're going to need everybody to be contributing. Yeah. No doubt. All right. So let's talk about who the rest of some of those everybody is. Um, as we look at the Dodgers bullpen as it stacks up against our. So, ham, you mentioned the three guys. Who are going to cover innings in starts

and games three, four and five, you're, Reis, May and conslin. Right. You're, Reis and May, they've only pitched, you know, collectively 11 innings of shut out all this postseason. Conslin, as you said, they didn't even use in this postseason, but the guy was a subwoofer. He's got one whip and doesn't walk people or give up homers. Right. Um, you know, from 2020. So, you know, those

guys aside, right. We're going to see a lot of righty Blake Trinon who throws a 96 mile an hour fastball 65% of the time. Slider and cutter. There's other two pitches. He appeared in four games, gave up no runs, no walks. This off season. Um, righty, bruised our grader all 67% sinker at 90%. And he's got 99 throws a slider as well. He's given up one

hit in two postseason appearances. This, uh, this year, uh, righty Pedro Bias 42% fastball 94 miles an hour has a change up on a slider. He pitched one inning of shut out ball. And then Kenley Jamson, which is sort of the most interesting guy in that. Right. He's, he's the Dodgers closer except he may not be the Dodgers closer anymore. And frankly, Dave Roberts. He's knocked

around and gained two of the N LDS by the Padres will not commit to him. Um, he throws a cutter, you know, over 60% of the time. And the velocity is down on that cutter. Like there are, he's got velocity issues. So I don't know how much we see him in that closer role. You know, Trinon, maybe that guy, joke, he has been kind of inconsistent.

Um, you know, it's interesting. Right. To lot of righty. Um, you know, the Kirshah is a lefty. Your reiss is a left. I want to actually go back to those guys in a minute. There's two other left. There's three other lefties in the bullpen Victor Gonzalez, Adam Kalerick and Jake McGee, all sub one whip in the regular season. Um, I want to go back to the

starting pitching for a second. We'll go back to the, uh, to the bullpen. So when Kirshah and your reiss start. Does. Markega still get the start. Against lefties. I mean, I think the answer is yes, because there's not a great alternative. I mean, Pase. Well, the problem is, right, you could do Pase and move Acunya to right and, um, and, I mean, right, you cannot put.

You cannot put a zoom in the field. No, it would just be done. So do you put Pase in there? I mean, do you think you're going to see, I don't think. I don't think you can trust. You're going to get more offense from Pase. Then you are from Markega's. Even against. You know, he's just had so little experience hasn't faced much major league pitching. Like

I think, you know, mitigating risk. You're probably keeping Markega's in there. You know, the nice thing about, uh, Kirshah and your reiss. Reiss is it's going to turn Aussie around. Um, Duval, we happy to see a lefty. You know, there's some benefit from it too. Um, but yeah, it's a real seal out of Markega's. I would, I would think so. I'd be really surprised if he

doesn't get. So look, the bullpen's good. The bullpen's good. Um, but our bullpen is just as good. I mean, don't you think? Do you guys, are you guys like our bullpen's better? Yeah. I mean, wouldn't you, yeah, I mean, wouldn't you take our bullpen over there? I would take our bullpen over anybody's. Yes. Yeah. I mean, they do have something, but you mentioned some of their

shakiness and I mean, they do have a lot of. I don't know, guys who can go and inning and stuff like this, but it's going to be seven back to back to back days. Like we're going to see their bullpen. We're going to really see how deep it can go and ours as well, right? And I think Jansson not performing well is going to hurt them.

Um, and I think Joe Kelly being erratic will continue to hurt them. Uh, and I think we have the advantage. I really do. The first couple of games are going to be so key. Not just because of the first couple of games. Like it's dumb to say, you know, we lose the first two games. I'll be bad. Clearly. But, um, you know, the deeper that our

starters go and the more we can protect our bullpen, you know, the bullpen that gets used more early on is really going to impact the second half of the series. There's just going to, there's going to have to be so much bullpen use. Yeah. Oh, dear God, really, let it be there. Game within the game. What would you say? Just let it be their bullpen that

we get to early and, you know, to start on their heels. Yeah. Just five innings, five innings from all of our starters. Like if we could just average that for the first three games, I'd be so happy. I know. I mean, six would be feel like a bonus. Just get us to five. Don't go out three and a third. I agree. Well, and, and we, uh,

you know, we did not obviously see the best two offences in the first round of the playoffs that we went through. But we saw amazing pitching. Um, amazing starting pitching and really good bullpen work. I know that some of the numbers didn't stack up, but that was not reflective of the guys who came in to face the braves in those five games. I mean, those were

all. Best relievers. Obviously the starting pitching was amazing in those five games. Um, so, you know, the braves have certainly benefited. We'll have, we'll get the benefit of having seen really good pitching coming to this point. I mean, I think that the postseason, offensive numbers, and we get to them in a minute will show that the braves have not performed great. But I also think that's

reflective of how good the pitching has been that they've seen in the, in the, in the Dodgers have not seen pitching is good is what the braves have seen. So, it's not going to take them by surprise to have to face this pitching staff. I mean, it's not any more ominous than the two starters we got against the Reds or the three starters we against got

against the Marlin. So I mean, I think that's a legitimate statement. Yeah. I agree. Right. And advantage braves bullpen. Right. Yep. All right. Kurt. So let's talk about the scariest part of the Dodgers, which is their one through nine. Yeah. I was looking at a, um, a breakdown, you know, like a, a position by position comparison of the braves and the Dodgers. Um, this was on

MLP and not surprisingly, the braves did not get a lot of, did not win a lot of these breakdowns. Um, I mean, basically Freeman, Akunya by hairs width and Ozone were the only offensive players. That they took over the Dodgers lineup, which is just stacked. I mean, it's, you know, it's skies that are MVP threats and, um, All stars and everything else. I mean, you know,

and you look at what they did. Obviously we did not get a lot of production out of our, our stars. Um, that it was not the case with, with the Dodgers. Um, Mookie bets slash three six, I mean, I think it's not the best. Six, E eight, four, thirty five, six, thirty two, Cody Bellinger, three, 16, 381, five, seventy nine. Their catcher will Smith to 94,

four, 29, four, 12. Um, you know, when we talked about that there was only a couple of guys on the braves lineup that were over 250. There was really only a couple of guys for the Dodgers that were under 250 months, see Chris Taylor and Justin Turner and months and Turner are infinitely dangerous. Um, so in the same sense that we're hoping, obviously, that Freeman and

I was in an all bees wake up. I'm sure they're expecting the same out of Turner and Muncie and Chris Taylor to an extent. So it's just a deep loaded lineup, you know, and Jack Peterson is the guy who you'll probably use as their D. H. He had a really good, he said a really good postseason. The one thing that stands out is for a team

that hits so many home runs this year. They've only hit two. And that might come from the fact that they've played in Dallas or Arlington for this, for the last round of playoffs, they do not strike out a lot. Comparatively, the braves so far in the postseason have 63 Ks and 16 based on balls. The Dodgers have 39 Ks and 27 based on balls. So they're

patient. And they wait for you to make mistakes. And then they make you pay for it. And it's up and down the line. I mean, it's the best offense in baseball. Yeah. Yeah. I would take their, you know, I would take their offense. Yes. I mean, advantage Dodgers. Um, look, we need, we need some of our guys to do what they can do. Right. Ozone needs

to have a better series. And he has over the first five games. Um, Freddie needs to do more. You know, if Dan's be can keep it up. And I think that's what I'm going to do. And Darnell, right? Ozzy waking up would be huge. Acunia continuing to do what he can do. But yeah, I mean, that's where. No, that's, that's where we need a little, a

little something more. And we need the home runs. We need the instant offense. We're going to need. We cannot afford to sort of be slacking in any dimension. If we're going to beat the Dodgers. Right. I mean, we can either hope that they beat themselves. But they are so insured against that because they're so deep, right? I mean, just one guy goes cold and then there's

four guys just, you know, pick it up. But we are often has to click. Our big hitters have to hit people down in the lineup. Riley needs to be able to deliver with men on base, right? In scoring position. All everyone has to hit. And our pictures, our starting pictures got to go deep. And our, you know, our bullpen guys cannot have blow ups. We just,

it's going to take everything we have to be able to do. We need the Dodgers. Well, and they've got to have better at bats. I remember in the, the Marlin series, I think it was Riley. There was a guy on the second. And I can't remember who it was. And, you know, Riley needed to get the guy over third to third. And instead of trying to

work the ball to second base and right field, he tried to hit home run every single swing. And whoever it was, Presensky or somebody at the end of the bat was like that. It was just a terrible, terrible at bat. And so the Braves have really, they've got to maximize on things like two outs in scoring position and things like that. Sacrifice flies that we joked

about against the Marlins that they had won for the first time in a decade. And, you know, those are the little things you gotta generate runs because, you know, despite our hopes that they can put up some crooked numbers with some home runs. Again, this part just just not yield a lot of them. So they're going to have to find ways to produce runs and striking

out a ton. And it is just such an empty, lousy out when you've got guys on base and especially guys in scoring position, even if, when even a fly ball will get somebody in, especially against pitching like this. All right, guys, next up is shot in the dark as well as our predictions for the series. But first, a quick break. All right, shot in the dark.

They're crazy predictions for the series coming up. But let's see how we all did with predictions on the more. Marlins series, and we will start with our listener picks. First up, Jeffrey Riddle predicted the Braves would sweep in three by a combined score of 29 to nine. If you get, if you get the drift. Yes. So the sweep was right. But the final combined score was

18 to five. So thanks for playing, Jeffrey. Next up, Andrew Blalock predicted that Akunia, Freeman, and O'Zuna would combine for seven plus homers and the Braves would sweep. Akunia was the only one to hit a homer in those three. Thanks for playing, Andrew. Up next, Justin Stone predicted freed would go eight scoreless with at least 10 strikeouts. And that Akunia would hit at least one lead

off Homer. So you got the lead off Homer, Justin. But of course, freed went four and gave up four and struck out four. So thanks for playing. Next up, Demetrius Freeman predicted the Braves would go back to back in at least one of the games. And they got close in game one as Darno and Dan's be both hit homers. But of course, OZI was in between

them in the line up there. All right, next up, Doc Herbert from the Platinum Sunbrero. He predicted that Kyle Wright would post the highest game score of the entire series. Game score is one of the Bill James metrics the measure of starting pictures effectiveness. So, you know, I was thinking about this running the back of my mind. I was quite sure that Ian Anderson would beat

him. Wright's game score was a 71. And Ian Anderson's was a 70. So Doc, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Congratulations. A Koozie is coming your way. All right. And last but not least, Han Schott first predicted that the Braves third baseman in shortstop would score more runs and drive in more runs than the Marlins third base and shortstop. So Riley scored one and drove

in zero. To Kurt point, need to do better than that in the NLCS, Dan's be scored three and drove in five. So four runs scored five RBI Brian Anderson scored one and drove in one Miguel Rojas scored one and drove in one for total of two and two. We have two winners. Another winner. Whoa. Congratulations, Han. All right. We will reach out to you guys and

get your addresses and send those koozie's out. Nice job. All right. Let's see. Let's see how we did more waiting. I predicted that Alcantara and Sixtho would combine to give up six or more earned runs and neither would see the sixth inning in those in their two games. So they gave up nine earned, looking good there. But Alcantara did make it through the sixth in his

game. So, close but not quite. All right. Ham, you predicted that Kyle Wright would give up fewer runs than Frieder Anderson. The tie does not go to the host. No, I get this. I said in without pitch. And he went longer. And I get this jerk. You said he would out pitch. Yes. And then you, yes. Okay, ham. You can have it. It's fine. Kurt, you

predicted. I feel like you made me say give up. But now I'm trying to think back if you said that to Kurt or not. That's all right. It's all right. I know that I'm. Well, I'm out pitch is just so objective. We would have never allowed it. Sweet. Wait a minute. You get some of my shot in the dark. That's right. So Kurt, you predicted 12

plus extra base hits. Game one saw five, two doubles and three homers. Game two saw a three. A double and two homers. We're at eight. Game three saw four doubles. Yes. It's a nice 13, baby. 12. You legitimately won. Congratulations. 13. That's right. No cheapies. Ham. But your, your victory is good too. No, I don't want it. That's good. You shouldn't take it. I don't want

to share the spotlight with you. All right, guys. So what do we have for Sean the dark this week? NLCS edition. I will start. I predicted the break. Dave's one and two. Acunia and Freddie will out on base and run scored their one and two bets and seeker. Ham, how about you? I don't want to play. I'm not playing. I'd take our withdrawal. All my previous

shot in the dark submissions. Send all the kuzzi's back. Send out. Yes. The one that I think I've actually won. I say Freddie wins in the LCS MVP. That would both be good. Well, I feel Curtis. What do you got? Anderson outpitches. Kershaw. Chest kid. Anderson wins. Kershaw loses. We win game two. Straight up. I really do think. Well, we'll get to our predictions. But I

really think that Anderson does out duol Kershaw and we win game two. As do I. I mean, but for real, for real. Fred. All right, folks. Remember you get to play in the LCS every week to get your shot in the dark in before first pitch on Monday for the Dodgers series. Send it in via Twitter. If we pick yours, we'll discuss it on next week's

show. And you could win an ABT kuzzi if you hit it exactly. So guys, before we give our predictions for the series, answer this question. Curtis, let's start with you. If you see blank happened in the first two or three games, you're going to feel more confident about a series win. I think if I see the pictures escape from some jams without giving up a bunch

of runs, no big crooked number innings for the Dodgers. And if I see more than three guys in our lineup, producing offensively. I know that's a big ask on both of those. But I think you're getting it. I mean, I just seems like the braves and maybe we're just overselling the Dodgers. But because of their glory, I think we're going to be able to do that.

We're not sharing numbers, but it just seems like the braves are going to have to be pretty perfect to pull this series went off. Yeah. Hey, how about you? What do you want to see the first couple of games? I mean, I sort of with Kurt on one of them. I don't want to see walks. I want to see free it in Anderson and write one

walk for the whole game, zero walks for the whole game. Obviously, I want to see them be aggressive and stuff like that. And not give up a bunch of runs. But I think the walks are the thing that I really want to see. I want to see those guys in control. And I want to see Freddie hitting. I want to see Freddie winning the NLCS MVP.

That's the thing. If he's, you know, barreling the ball, being dominant, being dangerous, that just makes the rest of the lineup work in front of him and behind him. So those are the two things I want to see. No walks lots of Freddie. Yeah, I'm certainly on all that stuff with you guys. I want to go. I want the ball. And to give up fewer runs

than theirs. You know, in those first couple games, it's just going to mean that one, the, the bullpen dominance is continuing. Hopefully that means fewer innings from our bullpen than theirs. Just like that, you know, we have got to, it is one of our strengths, right? It is, it is one of the places where we are better. And if we don't take advantage of that, we're

in real trouble. I mean, the bullpen has to be a differentiator. For us. Yeah. And, you know, and I know this sounds silly because obviously going down O2 would be bad, but just sort of in a vacuum. We'd be in big trouble, like if both freed and Anderson lost. You know what I mean? Not just from strict numbers, but just like those are our two best

starting bidger. You know, we really need to split those games. Yeah. Well, and, and I'm also curious, you know, I think it was the Rockies a few years ago that went on that crazy. Run at the end of the season. And they got into the playoffs and blew through the first couple of rounds of the playoffs didn't lose a game. And then got to the World

Series. I think they played the Red Sox and lost the first game and proceeded to get swept, swept, swept. So if the brave should lose game one, how do they bounce back? You know, how do they deal with some adversity, which they obviously have not had to deal with this postseason? And that'll be a big factor too. If they can come back and win games, they

can come back and play the game too. Then I think they're in for the series. If not, I think it's a short one. Speaking of dealing with adversity, how are we going to deal with Duke? Because, you know, look, the braids are not going to sweep. We're going to have our first post game wrap up loss. It's going to feel very different. I'm sure they'll involve

yelling at the refs. The UMS. And SNK. Everyone blaming me for being so negative. Yeah. Well, that's that's every show. Yes. Well Curtis, let's start with you. What is your what is your prediction for the for the series? I picked the very big first of when the world says at the beginning of the season just to remind people, but I just think that this is a

task that might be too tall for them. If they had Soroka, I would like their chances a lot more. I think with Soroka, the depth of three starting pictures that could match up against three starting pictures for the Dodgers. And then you see what happens after that with our offense against their offense, which is a minimal difference. I think that we could stand toe to toe

with them without that extra starting picture. It's going to be tough. So I think the Dodgers take it in six. All right. So flip flapper. You know, I mean, all the stuff you're saying is true, right? The braids are going to have to play error free ball. You know, the majority of the guys are going to have to bring their A game. Like, there's no room

for error. But I do think the braids can play that game, right? And I think that they're going to need a few breaks. I mean, think about, like, think about all the stupid stuff that the Cardinals did last year against the Braves. I know Zuna, for example, all the like, you know, not well hit balls that just hugged the right field line and went in for

doubles. Like, that sort of lock. You know, the braids are going to need some of that stuff. But I also think that this is a matter of fact. I think that's a really difficult season for the Braves. I have them winning in seven. How about you? Nice. The way I see this playing out is I see it. I see Bueller not doing well in the first

game and us sort of getting on him and winning actually the first game. And then the pressure being on Kershaw and Kershaw choking a little bit us being up to nothing. Dodgers come back and win one. We go up three. Everyone Dodgers win to go three, two. And then we win it in six Braves in six. I think we have enough studs to win the first

two games to put the pressure on the Dodgers. I think our bullpen is better than there's like we said. And it's just a week of baseball. The Braves have been on runs before, right? I mean, they can get they can get going. I mean, I love if anyone can keep this team sort of calm and composed during this time at Snicker. They love each other. They're

having a great run, a great ride. I think they're better than they've ever been, you know, at least in a long time. And this is their year. I really feel it. And so it's going to take the Dodgers going to throw the best that they can at us. And we're going to take their first punch. And then I think they're going to get a little bit

tight. And we're going to take advantage of that. See, I love game two. I love the Anderson Kershaw matchup. Yep. Me too. You're really good about that. So. Yeah, take game one. God, you know, I mean, look, we need masterful freed to show up tomorrow, as opposed to, you know, NLDS freed that we got. Yeah. I mean, he's got the rest as fast as velocity was

up. He just was, you know, who knows, was it nerves or something. But I think he's got that one behind him. Um, he, I think he's going to be ready for this game. He's going to rise the occasion. I really think so. Yeah. Yeah. And then game three becomes so pivotal. And what do we get from right? You know, and it could be amazing. But, you

know, Kurt, you talked about like, how are they going to, how are they going to navigate when there's a bunch of, you know, traffic on the base paths and all that stuff. And look, navigating through that against the Marlins and the Reds offense is going to be easier than it is against the Dodgers offense. And how well can they do it? That's going to be pivotal

here. Don't walk guys. And, you know, don't put up crooked numbers. Um, yeah. Just let it be exciting. Just let the games be exciting. Just like, don't like be down for nothing in the, going into the second, you know, and it's Wednesday and we're already down to nothing in the series. And it's like just cussing and despondent. It wouldn't be, it would be out of character

for this season. It would not be agree. Not, it would not be. We had a character for this franchise, but this season, it was for a lifetime of being an Atlantis sports fan. It would feel right on, you know, right on point. But, um, they, that you, you said it. I think Steve at the top. And we said it a bunch. They, they are good enough

to compete with the Dodgers as good as the Dodgers are. Let's just please just do that. You know, just do that. All right. Curtis, any final thoughts? Let's get to it. I'm ready to go. Yeah. I'm excited. Yeah. That's one game one. It has worked well in the last two series. All right, guys, that is the show. We will be back with post game shows after

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