Dodgers dynasty is serious jeopardy after unforgivable loss to Braves
The Dodgers could blow this.They could actually blow this.The Atlanta Braves walked into their National League Division Series with an enormous self-inflicted wound, and the Dodgers had them right where they wanted after claiming the opening game.But as this series heads to Atlanta for Games 3 and 4, the Dodgers unexpectedly find themselves in trouble.Serious trouble.Possibly dynasty-ending trouble.So much for the Dodgers’ edge in pitching.So much for the Braves being worn down.The Dodgers handed back whatever advantages they had in an unforgivable 3-2 defeat on Sunday that leveled the series at one game apiece.This is a series now.If the Dodgers are to advance to the NL Championship Series, they will have to earn it.The Braves’ starting pitcher for Game 3 on Tuesday: Chris Sale, the former Cy Young Award winner who pitched a complete shutout against them in August.In Game 4, the Dodgers will face right-hander Tyler Mahle, a successful reclamation project who was 4-1 with a 1.99 earned-run average in nine starts after the Braves acquired him from the San Francisco Giants at the trade deadline.If there is a Game 5, it will be played at Dodger Stadium, with Tarik Skubal scaling the mound for the Dodgers and the Braves resorting to their third bullpen game of the series.Skubal blanked the Braves over six innings in Game 1, but six Braves relievers combined to shut down the Dodgers in Game 2.The Braves have found a realistic path to victory in a series in which they looked as if they had no chance just a day earlier.How did it come to this?The short answer is that Braves manager Walt Weiss gambled – and won.Instead of starting Sale in Game 2, Weiss elected to push him back two days and have him pitch Game 3.If Sale would have pitched on Sunday, he would have done so on four-days’ rest, which the 37-year-old hadn’t done since April.
Sale was only three days removed from converting a four-out save against the Philadelphia Phillies in a Wild Card Series.The down...