The Atlanta Braves opened their 2025 campaign by dropping four games to San Diego. Now, they draw a three-day duel with the stacked, undefeated Los Angeles Dodgers. Atlanta is a lost wallet and cancelled flight away from the least-fun Pacific Coast trip possible.
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Monday through Wednesday’s action is stacked with stars. Cy Young winners Chris Sale and Blake Snell take the mound, while Silver Sluggers abound — from LA’s Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts to ATL’s Matt Olson, Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies.
This Braves core churned out consecutive 100-win seasons before last year’s injury washout. They should be somewhere around the playoff orbit in 2025, but the weekend’s opening series thud needs to be thrown away and incinerated. The Padres outscored them 17-7 overall and shut them out Saturday and Sunday. Riley led the starting lineup in slugging at .429. Yikes.
Sale and Reynaldo López were each roughed up in five-inning San Diego outings. Lefty Aaron Bummer and righty Héctor Neris both had bullpen blowups. At least Spencer Schwellenbach threw a primetime gem on Saturday, allowing just two baserunners across six scoreless innings.
To be fair, that Padres lineup is formidable, but the Dodgers’ is even better. The 5-0 reigning champs pummeled Detroit’s pitching last weekend, averaging almost seven runs per game against heavyweights including Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty and Detroit’s respected relievers. Tommy Edman has already mashed three homers in those five games, while Ohtani and Freeman have two apiece.
LA’s Dustin May will make his first start in more than a year after returning from elbow and esophagus surgeries. Tyler Glasnow was an All-Star in his first Dodgers campaign but missed the World Series run due to an elbow strain. Snell, a two-time Cy Young winner with Tampa and San Francisco, had two strikeouts to four walks but still won his Dodger debut on Thursday.
These sides harbor recent playoff animosities. Los Angeles beat Atlanta in the neutral-site 2020 NLCS en route to its World Series championship. The Braves then bested the Dodgers in a 2021 NLCS revenge series before winning their title.
Recent All-Stars to wear both jerseys:
- Freddie Freeman
- Jason Heyward
- Shelby Miller
- Craig Kimbrel
- Travis d’Arnaud
- Alex Wood
- Joc Pederson
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