october has a very short memory

The Braves beat the Dodgers five times in six regular-season games.

Five out of six.

If you listened to some of the pre-series chatter, that was supposed to tell us everything we needed to know about this matchup.

Atlanta had the Dodgers’ number.

The Braves matched up well with them.

The regular season had already shown us what would happen.

Then somebody forgot to tell Tarik Skubal.

Or Teoscar Hernández.

Or Max Muncy.

Or Kyle Tucker.

The Dodgers beat Atlanta 5-3 in Game 1 of the NLDS, and in the process provided another reminder of something baseball fans should know by now:

October has a very short memory.

Five Out of Six? Who Cares?

Atlanta won the regular-season series 5-1.

That happened.

It is also almost completely irrelevant now.

The Dodgers lost two of three to Atlanta in Los Angeles in May and then got swept in Atlanta in August.

But postseason baseball is not a continuation of the regular season. It is a reset.

Different pitching rotations.

Different bullpen usage.

Different pressure.

Different intensity.

And sometimes, a very different team.

The only head-to-head record that matters today is this one:

Dodgers 1, Braves 0.

This Is Why You Get an Ace

Tarik Skubal was the biggest reason Game 1 belonged to Los Angeles.

Six innings.

Two hits.

One earned run.

Seven strikeouts.

Two walks.

That is not merely a good start.

That is exactly what you acquire an ace to do in October.

Skubal did not let Atlanta breathe. He struck out the side in the third inning and kept the Braves from building any kind of sustained offense.

Atlanta managed four hits in the entire game.

Four.

For most of the night, the Braves’ offense looked like it was trying to solve a calculus problem with a crayon.

Skubal controlled the game, controlled the strike zone and allowed the Dodgers offense to wait for its opportunities.

Then the bombs started falling.

Three Swings Changed Everything

Teoscar Hernández got things started with a two-run homer in the fourth.

And he did not sneak it over the fence.

Hernández hit it 431 feet at 109.9 MPH.

Max Muncy added a solo shot.

Kyle Tucker hit another two-run homer.

Three home runs.

Five runs.

Ballgame.

The Dodgers finished with eight hits, three homers and 17 total bases. Atlanta had four hits and 10 total bases.

That is the danger of this Dodger lineup.

You can navigate Ohtani.

You can survive Freeman.

You can get through part of the order.

And then Teoscar, Muncy or Tucker can erase two innings of good pitching with one swing.

Then Tanner Scott Made It Interesting

It was 5-1 going to the ninth.

This game should have ended quietly.

Instead, Tanner Scott turned the ninth inning into something resembling a fire drill.

Ronald Acuña Jr. led off with a single.

Then Ozzie Albies jumped on Scott’s first pitch and deposited it 432 feet away.

Just like that, a comfortable 5-1 lead became 5-3.

Scott did manage to get the next two hitters, but Dave Roberts had seen enough. Evan Phillips came in and got Austin Riley to ground out for the final out.

This is where I have a problem.

You cannot keep doing this in October.

Four-run ninth-inning leads should not require emergency relief.

Scott was given a cushion and immediately handed half of it back.

Maybe it was just one bad outing.

Maybe Roberts keeps going back to him.

But postseason baseball has a way of exposing bullpen weaknesses very quickly. The Dodgers cannot afford to spend October playing bullpen roulette in the ninth inning.

The margin gets thinner from here.

The Lesson From Game 1

For weeks, we heard about Atlanta going 5-1 against Los Angeles during the regular season.

And that record was real.

It just wasn't predictive.

Game 1 came down to the things postseason games usually come down to:

Starting pitching.

Power.

Execution.

And surviving the bullpen.

The Dodgers had the better starting pitcher.

They hit three home runs.

They doubled Atlanta in hits.

They won.

That is all that matters.

The Braves can keep the 5-1 regular-season record.

Frame it.

Hang it on the wall.

Put a little plaque underneath it.

The Dodgers will take the 1-0 postseason record.

Because October does not care what happened in May.

And it sure as hell does not care what happened in August.

The LA superstar hitters were nearly silent yesterday, but it made little difference as Teoscar, Max, and Kyle produced the thunder. The Dodgers evidently signed Kyle Tucker just for this moment in time!