The Los Angeles Dodgers are back in the postseason for the first time since their National League Championship Series loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games which also happened to mark the postseason appearances for then-manager Joe Torre. On the other side of the diamond the Atlanta Braves are looking to avenge their 2012 campaign that ended after the hotly contested NL Wild Card game against the St. Louis Cardinals which left a dark spot in history as it also happened to be Chipper Jones’s final game of his potential Hall of Fame career. Both teams ended the season on lackluster streaks; however, both teams were the earliest ones to clinch their division titles. With a lot of firepower on both sides of the ball, it’s surely going to be a matchup for the ages.
Clayton Kershaw is coming off a regular season that is second to none in his brilliant, but short career. Already with a Cy Young Award under his belt, Kershaw also has a few games of postseason experience from 2008 and 2009 which don’t exact reflect the pitcher he has become. In five appearances he is 0-1 with a 5.87 ERA and 11 strikeouts. It’s too small of a sample size to really decipher how he’ll handle the Braves on a larger stage, all anyone has to go with are his four career appearances against Atlanta in which he has yet to receive a decision, but has maintained a 2.45 ERA and 35 strikeouts. Almost nine punch outs per outing is not a bad start. At the plate only Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier are the remnants of the Dodgers’ last postseason run. Kemp has been shut down for the rest of the season because of an ankle injury and Ethier is more than likely not going to make a return until Game Three. Fortunately for the Dodgers Hanley Ramirez and Yasiel Puig have been spraying balls all over the field no matter who the opposition is. Juan Uribe is a two-time World Series winner with the Chicago White Sox in 2005 and the San Francisco Giants in 2010, yet his postseason average of .208 in 30 games is not really anything to sniff at. Adrian Gonzalez hasn’t been in the postseason since he was with the San Diego Padres in 2006 where he hit .357 in the National League Division Series against the St. Louis Cardinals, but has hit a dismal .130 against the Braves in 2013.
The Braves seem to have everything going for them. Game One starter Kris Medlen has been lights out against the Dodgers throughout his career. In eight appearances he is 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA and 25 strikeouts. In 2013 he has gone 1-0 in two starts and has yet to give up a run. Oddly enough you have to give the advantage to Medlin over Kershaw. On the bats there really isn’t a bad looker in the bunch. Freddie Freeman has had an amazing season, batting .319 with 23 home runs and a career-high 109 RBI. Against the Dodgers; however, Freeman is batting .260 with two home runs. Still, not a bad stat. As for some of his teammates, including Jason Heyward, Chris Johnson and Andrelton Simmons, all three of them are hitting .290 or better against the Boys in Blue. Team captain Brian McCann is the only outlier as he is hitting a weak .059 against the Dodgers in 2013.
Both teams are the best the franchise and their respective fan bases have seen in years, but as far as fundamentals and plate discipline are concerned the advantage is clearly with the Braves. The Dodgers have their moments, but it’s not very likely that they’ll come out with the Rambo: First Blood Award against a well-seasoned and hungry team like the Braves; a team which also elected to leave their highest paid player, Dan Uggla, off the playoff roster. Once point about the decision which is most interesting is that Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez has been the skipper over Uggla for two teams, the then-Florida Marlins being the other. Any manager who is willing to make that intense of a decision against a guy he’s known for years is clearly willing to do anything it takes to bring home a championship. The Dodgers will be good for years to come, but the Braves legacy is too tough to overpower.