Powered by a three-run homer by Eddie Rosario in the fourth inning, the Atlanta Braves’ offense did just enough to defeat the Dodgers in NLCS Game 6 on Saturday and advance to the 2021 World Series.
The 4-2 win propelled the Braves to their first National League pennant since 1999.
The Braves got on the board in the first inning when Rosario singled and later scored on an Austin Riley ground-rule double. Walker Buehler, starting once again on short rest for Los Angeles, didn’t have his best stuff, but he was able to settle down and hold the Braves at bay for the next few innings.
In the top of the fourth, the Dodgers showed they weren’t going down easy, tying the game at one when Cody Bellinger beat the shift with a single to the left side, scoring Trea Turner.
Early on, the game had the typical feel of a late-series playoff game, as each side was positioning themselves for their kill shot. However, the bottom of the fourth inning contained all the offense that Atlanta needed to advance.
Dansby Swanson flied out to center to lead off the inning, and Travis d’Arnaud followed with a walk. At that point, the Braves decided to pinch hit for their starting pitcher Ian Anderson — which paid huge dividends — as Ehire Adrianza followed with a double to right, setting the stage for Rosario’s blast and giving the Braves a 4-1 lead after four innings.
The Dodgers put together their biggest threat of the game in the seventh inning, but they only managed to plate one run after lefty Tyler Matzek shut down the Los Angeles offense.
Chris Taylor led off the seventh with a double to left, and Cody Bellinger followed with a walk. Next, AJ Pollock doubled down the left field line to plate Taylor and push reliever Luke Jackson out of the game. From there, Matzek entered with runners on second and third and nobody out, only to punch out all three of Albert Pujols, Steven Souza Jr. and Mookie Betts consecutively.
Buehler took the loss for Los Angeles. The Dodgers used a total of six pitchers.
Matzek collected the official win for the Braves. The other Will Smith, who has been virtually untouchable in the series, registered the save.
The Dodgers go home after making their ninth consecutive postseason run.
Think Blue Planning Committee 
It was a good run for a team that lost Bauer early in the year and had more than its share of serious injuries Rios, May, Nelson, Ferguson, Kershaw, Seager, etc., and Goslin never appeared to be 100%.
The good was Friedman attempting to save the season traded for Scherzer and Turner. Urias won 20 games and showed why he was thought to be a phenom early in his career. Will Smith showed he was one of baseball’s best young catchers, Jansen had a breakthrough. Lux and Bellinger figured out he simply needs to make contact. The Bullpen had guys like Vesia and Bickford
I understand that the Dodger Hitting coaches are supposed to be magicians but this team’s offense failed at critical times and could not move runners over or score runners from 3rd base with less than 2 outs. The Dodgers lost several; games this year for that reason.
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Some of the questions:
What happens with Bauer? Seager? Scherzer? Kershaw? Jansen? Taylor? Knebel? Duffy?Nelson? Pujols?
I believe they re-sign Taylor & lose Seager. Dodgers will sign a 2-year contract with Kershaw that is incentive-laden and possibly the same with Jansen.
I believe there will be a long bitter strike that will cancel part of the 2022 season. We will see the DH in the NL and a revised playoff format. The MLB and Union will agree to have a minimum Team budget and part of the fight will be about the budget ceiling and penalties for signing free agents. Do they plan to do something about the shift? I doubt they have a consensus. I would like to see some type of automated strike zone that managers can have pitches reviewed perhaps have a couple of requests for a game similar to the NFL with their red flag. If they can get that agreed to it would make the umpires clean up their strike zones.
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I’m thinking about how a contract for a veteran could be acceptable if it was incentive laden. It’s more difficult for a reliever. So many of the measureables that could be in their contract are for things that aren’t under their control. E.g. Number of appearances and saves depends on where you are in the bullpen pecking order and how often the manager waves for you. Then once you get into the game, several bad outings can inflate your era and whip with the limited number of innings a reliever pitches in a season.
My recollection is that Jansen was ready to leave the Dodgers when he was last a free agent. Players, particularly J. Turner, talked him into staying.
I agree that Seager goes and Taylor stays. One reason is that the Dodgers would need for him to move to third. It’s more important if T. Turner is a happy camper and stays to be the longer term SS.
Kershaw is the toughest case. He may need surgery, but that’s going to be an unknown until spring training. And I don’t know how well he and some of his teammates will accept him having a diminished role in the future.
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Waldo, you are right hard to do. They will probably attempt to sign Jansen as with the new pitch selection he has been highly effective. The Dodgers do have Kahnle coming off the TJ surgery, Graterol has learned the cutter to be effective against lefties. Vesia was very effective last year. Do they re-sign Knebel? Does Morrow get re-signed as they brought him back last year on a rehab? Do they buy out Kelly? Is Ferguson back in 2022? Do they re-sign Duffy as a long man? How about Nelson & Alexander? There are some young arms they may bring up that have great numbers like Knack, Beeter, Pepiot, and Miller to name a few. The elephant in the room is the Bauer situation and I am not clear on what happens there. I am a big Vargas fan I am hoping we see him by the end of 2022. Also, does Rios make it back from his shoulder surgery? Playing 3rd base you need arm strength. The addition of the DH might help.
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Not that you asked, but here are my thoughts about the bullpen and who’ll be returning:
Graterol, Bickford, Vesia, Phillips and Bruihl each showed enough that they could all be part of next year’s pen and save AF some dollars that he might want to spend elsewhere. Graterol’s performance late in the year and the playoffs could very well put him in position to take Treinen’s place as the 8th inning guy if KJ leaves and Treinen becomes the closer.
Not sure if Vgon’s problems this year were mostly health related or if he just regressed and 2021 will turn out to be the outlier. If he can duplicate 2020, add him to the list.
Kenley’s transformation the last half of the year was truly amazing. He absolutely reinvented himself and is now a real force again. I believe that if AF gets close to matching what he sees from other teams that he would rather be back here, but a contender with bullpen problems might just decide to overbid (Angels, Phillies?)
I think Knebel will get an offer to be a closer for a team and won’t return.
Alexander is as good as gone.
Fergie will be part of the pen if he can come back as the same pitcher we had before the surgery. If not, he may spend the year at OKC fine tuning his stuff and maybe return later in the year.
Kahnle will be a question mark until we see him throw, but he should be considered as a likely part of the 2021 bullpen.
I think Morrow’s MLB career is finished. I hope I’m wrong but I don’t expect to see him again.
If Nelson is willing to come back for a low dollar amount plus incentives, I’m sure AF would love to have him, but I think someone will offer him more than we do. On the other hand, he’s had lots of injuries in the past few years, so maybe this marriage will continue.
Beeter, Pepiot, Knack and Miller are all potential contributors (even major contributors) but I think they’re all at least a year away and I don’t expect anything from any of them at the major league level next year.
I’m really interested to see what happens with Kenley. The first part of the year, I was figuring what we could do with that money when he left this winter. Now I’m hoping we can find a way to fit him into the budget.
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I was really interested in the response Seager gave a reporter when asked if he wanted to come back to the Dodgers.
“Yeah. Absolutely. I grew up here. I’ve spent a lot of time here. I believe in what these guys do. I believe in how we go about it.”
That’s a lot stronger statement than I would have expected. I would have thought he would say something like “I’ve enjoyed my time here and we’ll just have to see what’s out there, but I would certainly consider coming back.”
So now AF has to decide if he would rather have Corey or Trea going forward because I just don’t see either one of them signing here long term without the chance to be the shortstop. He can go all out, spend a lot of money to sign Seager and then wave good-bye to Trea after next season. Or he can wish Corey good luck and decide he wants Trea to be the shortstop going forward, but the chance you take with that scenario is that after letting Seager go, Trea might decide he’d rather be elsewhere after next year. Of course, by that time Lux may have established himself as the hitter we all thought/hoped he would be and slide right in as the long term shortstop.
There will be lots of news this winter. Hopefully the end result will make us happy as Dodger fans.
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Seager is a top offensive infielder but a below-average defensive fielder that gets injured every year. Turner is a higher-rated defensive fielder and hit for a higher average than Seager. Before that interview, I was sure Seager was gone to the Yankees or another East Coast club. Now?
Top of the list what about Bauer? Is May expected back in 2022? Do they sign Kershaw for significantly less? When the Owners and Players hammer out a contract will there be a change in the Team overall CAP? The top amount of money allowed for teams to spend is going to be a very emotional and bitter point along with draft compensation for free-agent signings. It’s going to be fascinating to watch over the winter. But the Player’s contract has to be signed before anything significant gets done.
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There is no CAP T. There is a competitive balance TAX> Players will not allow a cap. There is a proposition out there to do away with the 6 year thing and allow players to become free agents at age 29. As for Bauer, he is gone. No way that guy pitches for LA again. As for Seager, I prefer his bat and glove to Turner. Simply stated, Seager has been the better post season player. He makes enough good plays to over ride his bad ones. The DH will be back in the NL, there will be some sort of tweaking of the shift such as not allowing more than 2 players on each side of the base. There might be a pitch clock by sometime next season. The playoffs being expanded is one of the things MLB wants badly. But if they do that, you need to reward a team for in season excellence. I would prefer a NBA type set up where 8 teams make the playoffs, but the 1 plays the 8, the 2 plays the 7 and so on and so forth. First series would be 3 games. Next two would both be 7. And then the World Series. Also, cut the season back to 154 games, realign the leagues to be more regional cutting down on travel, and add 2 teams making 8 4 team divisions. Have a balanced schedule with most of the games happening in your own division. And head to head meetings at the end of the year. I notice on next seasons schedule, the Dodgers play the Giants 6 times in September, but not after the middle of the month. As for a strike, I think the owners will lock the players out like they did years ago since they have to have a deal by the 2nd of December. Right now they are not even close on the major issues.
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Bear I agree with you about Bauer. But I think it’s complicated. If the MLB does not suspend him the Dodgers are on the hook from what I have read and I agree the Union will probably back him. It’s a mess and ties up $30 million in player budget.
I don’t think anyone besides the Dodgers and Baseball management knows how this is going to break. And they are probably not completely sure.
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Actually it is 32 million. If he were to opt out after year 2 it would escalate to 47 with the opt out. His contract is unique. It is in the hands of MLB and the courts. If he is not charged and then is suspended, the union is going to go bat nuts. If he is not charged and there is no suspension, I would figure that his agents, lawyers and the Dodgers would work out some sort of compromise if the team does not really want him back.
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AF needs to be on the phone today with Manfred, yelling and screaming that as soon as the WS concludes MLB needs to come up with a definitive decision on Bauer. The wished for scenario, I’m sure, is that MLB suspends him without salary for 2022. That frees up a lot of payroll. But there is also the possibility that without a decision from the D.A. to prosecute Bauer that MLB will do nothing. That dumps everything into the Dodgers’ lap and I’m sure they have game planned various scenarios on how to react, but react they must before they do anything else with regard to players.
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Da won’t prosecute him. Mlb doesn’t want to get sued so they will leave it up to the dodgers who will probably release him and pay out the next 2 years. Tough situation. The team should be going into a rebuild mode but I don’t think they will have much money to work with. This is a aging team, with almost nothing (sorry Bear) on the farm. They have some huge holes to fill this off-season, a handful of their own free agents that they will want to sign, with payroll restraints ( I believe), and they don’t know what the cba will look like. Wouldn’t want to be a Free agent this year that’s for sure. If you take off the rose colored glasses, we need two outfielders, back up catcher, 3rd basemen, 2nd base or shortstop, at least 3 starters and 3/4 relievers ( which is less if a problem). And I haven’t even mentioned the bench, which was maybe our biggest problem. No idea how even some of these concerns will be addressed without knowing how the cba will turn out.
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I like my rose colored glasses.
Not sure where you think we need two outfielders Gordon, or are you talking about reserves? Seems to me that Mookie, Belli and Pollock as a starting outfield is fine. I’m assuming that we get a good Bellinger in 2022, somewhere a lot closer to 2021 postseason than 2021 regular season.
I agree with you on the DA’s charging Bauer. I think if they were going to do it they would have already done so. With that in mind, I think Andrew could get somebody to take his contract, but it would involve paying at least 2/3 of the remaining $ or taking back a bad contract.
Back up catcher – Barnes has one year left on his deal and I don’t see them making any changes there. Hopefully Cartaya will be ready by 2023 but if not, they’ll bring in a Barnes-type guy for a year. Plenty of those defense-first guys out there.
In my mind, I think the starting rotation and the bench are by far our biggest priorities.
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Exactly Bauer is the Elephant in the room. The Dodgers need the MLB to make a decision ASAP! But the Union contract may need to be hammered out before many moves are made as depending on Team Budget CAPS team do not know how much they can allocate.
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Thinking beli and a fourth outfielder. 5/6 games doesnt erase 100 games in my mind although I loved that he was letting to left field. Never happened before. In the day players in a slump chocked up and went with the pitch until they had it right. Though belj was way beyond a slump. Baur is going to have a huge impact on this year’s payroll no matter what. Think barnes is done. Didn’t play, didn’t pH. Starting rotation consists of Buehler and Urias ???? Nobody else that even resembles a starter. Gonsolin and price clearly aren’t part of the future. Learn a lot in the post-season man. This is going to be the most interesting off season we’ve ever seen. And I’m worried
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If the DA does not charge Bauer and the MLB does nothing do the Dodgers play him next year? He has a contract! They either pay him or eat his deal. In that case, you play him. Economically the team has little choice if the MLB and the Players Union say he can play. Too much money to throw away.
The outfield with Betts, Belli, and Pollock is good. Lux can fit into a utility role if he can continue to be an average hitter. I think they keep Taylor. Rios is probably back next year. Vargas is a year away. When the playoff series is on the line with RISP you are behind and your only choice for a hitter is Souza you are in a very bad place.
I really like the young pitchers coming up with Jackson, Pepiot, and others.
I like the bullpen. We shall see how this winter unfolds it will be fascinating to see what happens.
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Pepiot was impressive in spring, not so much at AAA. Jackson and White have some experience and will be given lots of chances come spring training. Knack and Beeter will be checked out come spring too. I think they will try and find a taker for Price. They will eat half of his salary if needed. May should be ready by mid season, but how effective he might be is the question. Urias, Buehler, Gonsolin, and who ever they sign or resign will be the bulk of the rotation. I think Gonsolin’s problems were simply because he missed most of spring and never really was stretched out or in a rhythm.
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The players do not want him back. He will never pitch another game for the Dodgers. If he is suspended, all his legal action will be against MLB and not the Dodgers. The MLBPA will file a grievance over any action taken by MLB. Sorry Gordon, there is talent in the minors, but like I said, and ask Jeff about this, most of the talent is in the lower minors and a year or two away. You can take the Ostrich approach and bury your head in the sand, but there are kids down there who will be in the majors in a few years. Watch Outman next spring. Pages too
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We think, from what we’ve read, that the Dodger players don’t want Bauer back, but we really don’t have any way of knowing for sure. That said, I don’t think Dodger management wants him back.
If he winds up suing MLB, he will most certainly sue the Dodgers as well since they are the ones who have the contract with him. That’s why, if MLB suspends him, I’d like them to give the Dodgers the chance to disallow his salary as part of their total payroll number. I don’t think it would be fair if they sign guys with the idea that he’s been suspended and then somehow he wins his case and they have to pay him.
You mention Outman and Pages. The position player that I’m most excited about is Vargas. Hopefully all those guys wind up helping us.
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I agree. Outman made huge strides this season also, He has excellent speed and developed some power. We saw what his defense could look like last spring when he made some great plays. This Rodriguez kid seems like he might be the real deal also. Still very young and in the low low minors.
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There were a lot of unnamed sources who said the players did not want him back. I happen to believe he would be a huge distraction in the club house. I also believe the players on the team who have family’s would be more than a little adverse to having that kind of a personality around. But we will see. No matter what happens, there is going to be some kind of a legal battle. MLBPA will fight any disciplinary action imposed by the league. Especially if he is not charged or convicted.
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Bear I understand it’s not an individual player’s salary CAP as such. But it might as well be in that by having a ceiling with some rather nasty and accumulating fines and possible draft pick loss it controls teams’ spending. If you have a $200 million dollar ceiling you must parse out the salaries accordingly. I have read that the Players will demand a Team has a minimum Team player salary total. I believe you are right. This will come to a lockout and acrimony between the Owners and Players. It will be a long and very bitter war.
As the Dodgers are over the CBT this year how do they decide who to sign until the Bauer situation and the new Union Contract is resolved?
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There are some very impressive young players on the horizon but most are probably another season away say 2023. I really believe Vargas is the real deal. He is very impressive physically and makes contact!!! I would always promote guys that can consistently hit the damn ball. Outman, Pages Cartaya, Rodriguez, are all position players that have great potential.
The pitchers are also impressive in Miller, Beeter, Knack, Jackson, Pepiot. there is a lot of talent. I think Miller might make the team next year.
As Gordon likes to say they are just minor league players. But some of the talented players make it. Those players are the controlled financial structure for a team. Some of these young guys will make it. I would bet on Vargas. And I really like the guys that Bear and Jeff have mentioned.
The Dodgers have a very bright future.
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I did not think the Dodgers had a chance at Seager. If he is willing to come back I would sign him. Seager makes hard consistent contact. His defense is adequate. I would sign Seager and then see what Turner decides to do during the 2022 season.
The DH will help the Dodgers get the extra bat in the line-up.
Bellinger’s hitting strategy changing his swing to make contact especially with RISP & Lux hitting better has changed the dynamic on the Dodger needs in 2022. It also depends on if the Dodgers decide to re-sign Taylor. Souza, McKinney, Raley, etc spending time on the team showed the Dodgers have a talent gap in their system for a year or two.
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Souza, Raley and Reks, along with Burns are not coming back. All of those guys are way past the development stage and are getting a little long in the tooth. If Rios is healthy, he makes Beaty redundant. I could see Matt being non tendered. McKinney is gone also. McKinstry will get another shot in spring as will Neuse. But I feel they are going to need to look for another RH power bat off of the bench and there will be a lot of those guys out there. It is not going to be business as usual this winter. With a December 2nd deadline for a new deal, I believe if they do not reach an accord by then, highly unlikely, then the owners will act before the players and lock them out. That means no winter work outs at the Arizona training facility or Dodger Stadium. The players want the lower level hard cap to force the also rans to spend money on salary. But they will never allow a hard cap on how much they spend. Taylor will get a 4-5 year deal for more than the Dodgers are willing to spend. I also believe that Taylor is one of those guys who should never be a regular because the more he plays, the less he makes contact. His K rate SOARED in the 2nd half. Any team that signs him to be an every day player is making a blunder.
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I don’t see any way Beaty would be non-tendered. As far as I know he made less than 600k this year and isn’t even arbitration eligible yet. There may be some redundancy between him and Rios but Rios is coming back from shoulder surgery and look how well that went for Cody this year. Also, I don’t think Rios plays outfield where Beaty plays four positions (first, third and corner outfield).
If they really wanted to get rid of Matt, they could easily get something for him in a trade. At this point, he might actually prefer to be traded to a team that would give him some at bats.
Not sure we would see Beaty, Rios and McKinstry all on the roster at the same time as they’re all left handed and none of them are likely to be considered an every day starter, but that’s the least of AF’s problems this winter. I would love to see the every day rosters at 28 instead of 26 but the owners would never go for that. Actually, that might be a nice bargaining chip to throw at the union because it would create two extra MLB jobs but only cost the teams a little over one million.
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You are probably right. Bench is overloaded with lefty’s. So they can more than afford to get rid of one of those guys. I think McKinstry is going to get a lot of reps during spring, whenever that is, at a lot of positions. I think they sign at least one RH power bat for the bench. Starting pitching is going to have to be a priority. I think Beaty would be a perfect fit for an AL team as a DH. If he were traded that is where I would send the guy. I know the DH will probably be in the NL too, but I get him out of our league. You do not want a guy like that coming back to bite you in the butt. There has been some talk of extending the rosters to 28, or allowing teams to carry a 5 man taxi squad all season. I know Boras ripped the league about the way pitchers were being used and called for expanded rosters. I also think that it will be later than sooner before we find out about what the 2022 roster will look like. I see a lockout coming, and maybe April before they even settle this mess.
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A couple more roster spots would be very useful. The DH most think is a lock for the NL. I am sure Beaty would love to get traded to get some at-bats like Kike and Joc. As Beaty makes a low salary I am sure they will carry him. I was surprised that McKinstry did not follow up on his original promise. Rios had shown respectable power and his splits against left-handed pitching were good. Dodgers currently have Smith, Barnes, Trea Turner, JT, and Pollock under contract and right-handed. Do you think they re-sign Pujols? He certainly was outstanding against left-handers added a spark in the clubhouse and filled a mentor role. I hope he signs for another year. It looked like he loved being in the playoffs. I hope they go with a different playoff format like the NBA as Bear suggested. If the DH is universal why not go with Regional divisions to cut down on travel? So Padres, Dodgers, Angels, Athletics, Giants, and the Mariners? Short travel, same time zone, and regional rivalry. Depending on the size of the league the Mariners could be dropped or the Diamondbacks and Rockies could be added. I liked Bear’s idea of adding a few teams. Perhaps put a team or two in Mexico?
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McKinstry never got back on track after he was injured. I am of the belief that he tried to play too soon. Happens a lot. He looked like his timing was way off. He also never really took off again at AAA. Pujols will not be resigned. I think Tio Albert goes home to St. Louis for a farewell tour with his buddies, Molina and Wainwright. If they add two teams the league will split into 8 4 team divisions. Mexico has been discussed. Problem there is where. Mexico City is at a high altitude and the air there is brutal. Vera Cruz would be nice, but the travel would not be very great. Las Vegas is an option. NL West would look like, Angels, Dodgers, Padres and D-Backs. And it would be named like the NBA. Pacific division south, Pacific Division north. A’s Giants, Mariners, Rockies. And so on and so forth. Once they talked of putting a team in England, but travel there would also be brutal.
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I like the idea of a Pacific Division South with less travel. You are right Mexico City is around 7K feet and Guadalajara is around 5K feet about the same as Denver. When I was in Mexico City you could feel the altitude. I was thinking of Mexico as baseball is a known sport and Mexico City is huge and Guadalajara metro had 2 million-plus last time I looked. Las Vegas is probably a good option there is plenty of money there.
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Travel is a real pain for the players so I doubt they’d put up with having to fly to Mexico City and certainly not to England. Now, if you told them you wanted to put a team in Puerto Rico or the DR you might get a much different response. That team could be in a division with Miami. Tampa and Atlanta and the travel distance would be no problem.
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I agree. I never thought that Mexico was a viable option. I do believe with the Raiders now in Las Vegas that moving a team there would be an option, but only with a domed stadium like Phoenix. Portland has also been mentioned a few times, but they would definitely need a dome. I think Puerto Rico would be perfect.
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I had never thought of Puerto Rico. It certainly would fit geographically. There are around 3.5 million on the island so might be able to swing the economics but not sure about that. No hassle about leaving the US. They are certainly baseball fans. Too bad they couldn’t play in Havana. LOL….
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No way they would play in Cuba, besides, they would have a territorial dispute with the Marlins.
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I know Cuba is forbidden. But it would be a great place for a baseball team in the future. Eventually, relations will get normalized but it may be another decade or two…
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Don’t you ever keep up with current events Bear? Manfred just announced a 4 team expansion. All teams will be in one new division: Havana, Moscow, Beijing, Pyongyang. They’ll be playing only 81 games a year because they’ll have to allow at least 2 days for passport clearance between each visit.
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Wow, who woulda thunk…….I thought that was wacky Joe handing out unlimited passports to those guys.
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McKinstry had a terrible year getting hurt early and never recovered. Rios had surgery early enough he may be back by Spring. Rios has great potential He showed impressive power in 2020.
My new Labor Contract wish list is the DH, a couple more roster spots, a revised playoff system, and a partial shift rule. It would be great if they would use the electronic strike zone and let the managers get a couple of challenges a game to make the umpires clean up their embarrassingly erratic strike zones but the Umpires Union would have to agree and I doubt that will work.,
I agree that it will be a long bitter strike and I am not confident there will be a Spring Training which I miss as I live in AZ. I have read the guesses on Bauer. It will be interesting how that plays out. If it falls on the Dodgers we know the reports were the team did not want him back but he has a $32 million dollar contract MLB would need to give them a salary exemption or?
As far as pitchers does Nelson come back? How about Duffy? Will May be back the second half of the year? I agree with Bear Gonsolin never got untracked from his injuries I think he is a solid rotation pitcher. I think they sign Kershaw if he does not need surgery and when would they know that? Not sure what happens with Scherzer he will certainly have a lot of offers. Buehler, Urias, and Gonsolin is a good core group. Lots of young pitching talent in the minors. Do they buy out or trade Price?
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