Los Angeles Dodgers refuse to lose. The brave of Atlanta cannot win a victory.
These scenarios have collaborated to produce a memorable Set of three games This week at Dodger Stadium, where the defending champions looked more powerful than ever And their formerly formidable opponents seemed positively helpless.
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Here are six take -out dishes in a revealing series in the first stages of the 2025 season.
The Sho continues for Dodgers; The difficulties continue for the brave
Of courseShohei Ohtani Hit a home circuit during his Bobblehead evening To finish the Atlanta scan. “Ohtani, inevitable!” The call while the ball was sailing on the fence of the central field was perfectly appropriate. Wednesday, Freddie Freeman did not play, the strikers n ° 2 and n ° 3 Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernandez went 0 for 8, Blake Snell lasted only four sleeves and La Défense made three mistakes… However, the dodgers have still won Because that’s exactly what they are doing. Meanwhile, the shocking slippage of the brave has reached unthinkable stockings, with the ohtani dinger, the punctual punch.
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After Large non -competitive look against San Diego And in the first two games in this series, Atlanta took a 5-0 advance in two rounds on Wednesday. The five points have already scored a summit of the season for the club, apparently suggesting that the offensive had woken up for a week’s sleep. But the Braves could not add after the first two executives, in particular by not capitalizing on a basic situation, no one in the sixth, Marcell Ozuna, Austin Riley and Matt Olson planned to fight. These gaps with runners in the notation position died while the dodgers set up their dramatic return and embodied what was an epic collective struggle on the plate for Atlanta during the first week.
The Braves rank in the last or close in almost all offensive categories so far, an astonishing reality given the involved personnel. This offense disappointed last year compared to the scandalous standard set in 2023, but the current difficulties are infinitely more confusing and disturbing.
Remember that Dustin can
Dustin May made his return triumphant to the mound on Tuesday, almost two complete years withdrawn from his last appearance in the major league. Since he played as a 22 -year -old recruit in 2020 – including a goalless outing in match 6 of the World Series – May’s career has been derailed several times, limiting it to 20 departures during the previous four seasons. His history of injuries include Tommy John surgery in 2021, another elbow surgery in 2023 and a terrifying incident last summer which resulted in torn esophagus and Required emergency surgery.
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As such, it was an emotional return to action for May, and it was all the more remarkable to see it Excel immediately by considering the long layout. On Tuesday, the red -headed flame lever gave only one goal out of five strokes with six stick withdrawals, presenting a Wicked movement on its fast two -cut ball and its sweeper.
In a draft in a Lycée du Texas in 2016, May is one of the longest members of the Dodgers organization, and it is now in the last year of its contract. With a high season in rotation, May could strike a free agency not only as one of the higher arms available, but also one of the youngest, because he will be 28 years old in September. That said, it remains to be seen how careful the dodgers will be with its sleeves; 2019 was the last time that May has launched more than 100 in a season.
In this spirit – plus a richness of internal alternatives which should be available in the coming months – it will be interesting to see how long can stick to rotation. For the moment, all that we know with certainty is that if May continues to launch as he did during his beginnings of the season, the Dodgers will want him to launch important sleeves on the section.
Braves need reinforcements before reinforcements
AS Spencer Strider and former MVP MVP of NL Ronald Acuña Jr. of the injury are more weighting now, given the brutal start of Atlanta in the season. But the brave cannot wait for these two stars to save them, especially when the depth pace has undergone two more brutal strokes in recent days, with the news that Jorickson Profar was suspended 80 games for PEDS And the right -hander Reynaldo Lopez needs arthroscopic surgery of the shoulder which should keep it on the shelf for several months.
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The recruit Drake Baldwin admirably filled the injured Sean Murphy behind the dish. Do not be fooled by its average stick of 0.056; He struck the ball strong enough and was The most unlucky striker in baseball so far this year. But the brave need several others to intensify the big times in the absence of a signs and Lopez. This means March sign Alex Verdugo once he is ready and more production by Jarred Kelenic and Bryan de la Cruz.
On the mound, the brave could look more at talented but inexperienced right-handers, AJ Smith-Shawver and Hurston Waldrep, at least until strider is back. This might be much to ask these players, but if the stars continue to underperform, improbable heroes will have to emerge so that Atlanta returns to the mixture.
We have not yet seen the Dodgers at full power
Perhaps the most remarkable part of the 8-0 departure from Los Angeles is that only one of these games presented the MVP trio of Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman at the top of the programming. Each superstar delivered individual heroic along the way, with Ohtani and Betts by already marking walking dingers, but Betts’s serious illness that prevented it from playing Tokyo and Freeman Recent aggravation of his ankle injury have left Ohtani as constant alone at the top of the range so far.
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The silver lining of these first absences of Betts and Freeman was the emergence of other offensive stars, whether Tommy Edman as a surprise team leader in the circuits with four, the receiver Will Smith is seated in the NL with a .607 OBP or the free agent of Michael Comforto (1,237 ops) adjusted transparently Blue. All this to say: it is frightening to think how much this unit will be productive once guys such as Teoscar Hernandez and Max Muncy Heat Up and Betts and Freeman are back in the everyday mixture.
To make the playoffs, the brave must make history
No team never started 0-7 and rebounded to qualify for the playoffs. The most recent team to start 0-7 and finish with a victory record was the astros of 1983, which were 0-9 from the door but finished 85-77. As disastrous as things seem right now, the Houston club from last year can also provide some comfort regarding the disturbing start of the brave.
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Like Atlanta, Houston entered the 2024 season as a pretender probably in superior failure, but stumbled badly at the start, falling at 7-19 and sitting at the end of April at the end of April. This horrible first month had a lot of questions if the Astros race as annual certainties in the playoff series was over, but Houston finally understood and displayed the best record in the American league of May 1 at the end of the season, winning another division title.
Perhaps a similar trajectory is in store for Atlanta once Acreña and Strider will come back, but the competition in the NL East seems much less likely to capitulate and activate an increase in brave in the ranking like the Al West path of Houston did in 2024. No matter how you cut it, the day of the opening of the Atlanta.
Challenges with loom on the coming road
The Dodgers are now embarking on their first traditional trip of the season because they will face two other NL East opponents in Philadelphia and Washington in next week. From the point of view of travel, this getaway across the country may seem to be a piece of cake compared to their transpacific hike in Tokyo, but the phillies represent an intimidating opponent in the quest for Dodgers to remain undefeated. And even if the dream of 162-0 evaporates in the coming days, the Dodgers should have all the motivations to maintain their high level of play, taking into account the ultra-competitive state of the NL Ouest, which presents the only undefined team in San Diego and two other teams with strong departures in Arizona and San Francisco.
The brave, on the other hand, will retire to Atlanta for a home opening match against Miami which could have unusual vibrations. Perhaps a series against the reconstruction marlins will serve as a gentle landing after the nightmare visit of Atlanta in southern California, but the fish have been reasonably competitive so far and may not be the pushrs we expected. It will not be easier for Atlanta after that, when the phillies will come in town for three games next week, seeking to bury their rivals further at the bottom of the NL East.
