Down 2-0, Dodgers have Braves where they want them at home
Trailing 2-0 in the NL Championship Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers have the Atlanta Braves right where they want them. At their house.
The Braves’ last win at Dodger Stadium was June 9, 2018. They’ve lost nine straight in Los Angeles, getting swept in a three-game series in August and shut out twice in the 2018 NL Division Series.
Going back to the 2013 NLDS, the Braves have dropped 19 of their last 22 in LA.
The Dodgers were an Mlb-best 58-23 at home, ending the regular season on franchise-record 15game winning streak at Chavez Ravine. But as a wild-card team, they don’t have home-field advantage in the NL playoffs despite 106 wins.
“We’re back home,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Monday. “We expect to win Game 3.”
The series resumes Tuesday at Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles is a 3-2 favorite in Game 3, according to Fanduel Sportsbook.
Charlie Morton (0-1, 3.86 ERA in the postseason) starts for the Braves. Walker Buehler (0-1, 3.38), a 16-game winner in the regular season, takes the mound for the Dodgers.
“If the baseball sayings are right, you’re only as good as your next day’s starting pitcher,” All-star pitcher Max Scherzer said, “and so we got Walk going on the mound and we definitely believe we can win with him. Our mindset is just win the next game.”
Buehler will start on two extra days’ rest after opening Game 4 of the NLDS on short rest a week ago.
“I got a little sick in San Francisco, but I’m feeling all right, so no worse for the wear,” he said Monday, declining to specify how or what made him sick.
The Cy Young Award contender has proven to be reliable in big games, with a 2.50 ERA in 13 postseason starts.
“With Walker being on extra rest, I think to have him, to push him, go deeper is certainly a very good option,” Roberts said.
The Dodgers expect to have Justin Turner back at third base. He was reduced to pinch-hitting in Game 2 because of a neck injury, ending his streak of 77 consecutive postseason starts. He’s struggled at the plate in the postseason, hitting .050 against San Francisco in the NLDS.
The Dodgers have been down before against Atlanta.
Playing last postseason at a neutral site in Texas, they overcame a 3-1 deficit to beat the Braves in the NLCS. L.A. went on to win its first World Series title since 1988.
Game 4 is Wednesday and a possible Game 5 the following day, cutting out any rest for the bullpen and seemingly making it harder for the Dodgers to use their starters in relief, as they did in the first two games.
“Things just aren’t, can’t be scripted. You’ve got to kind of sometimes go off-script to what we feel, what I feel is the best chance to win a game, let alone a particular series,” Roberts said.