Dodger fans looking for the single biggest reason why their beloved team was unable to pull off what should have been a three-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves in the 2018 National League Division Series on Sunday evening had a wide selection to choose from.

The most obvious is the 3-1 fastball right down the middle by Dodgers starter Walker Buehler that every living soul on the planet absolutely positively knew was coming, especially 20-year-old Braves rookie outfield sensation Ronald Acuña Jr., who crushed it for a second-inning grand slam home run to give Atlanta a quick and seemingly insurmountable early 5-0 lead; this even before all of the foam tomahawks had been handed out to the eventual Sun Trust Park crowd of 42,385.

With two outs and the bases loaded, and on a 3-1 count, there was zero doubt whatsoever that Buehler was going to groove one right down Broadway. He did, and Ronald Acuña Jr. did not miss it.
(Video capture courtesy of FS1)

And then, of course, there’s the four-pitch / bases loaded walk by Buehler to Braves left-handed starting pitcher Sean Newcomb that gave the Braves a 1-0 lead. To add insult to injury, Newcomb was 3-for-72 (.042) in his two-year major league career and had walked exactly once in his combined 88 major league plate appearances, and had exactly one RBI prior to his first-ever postseason walk and RBI immediately preceding Acuña’s slam.

And it would be criminal not to include the fielding error by Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger on a second-inning / two-out base hit by Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies, after which Bellinger threw to the wrong base – also in front of the Acuña slam.

And then there’s my personal favorite – the 83.1-mph “Knuckle Curve” (per Statcast) that was an absolute meatball right over the middle of the plate by Dodgers left-hander Alex Wood (who had been banished to the bullpen after having become completely ineffective as a starter for frequently serving up said meatballs) to always dangerous Freddie Freeman in the bottom of the sixth inning, which the Braves first baseman promptly deposited deep into the bleachers in right-center field for what would prove to be the game-winning home run in the eventual 6-5 Dodgers loss. (Yes, they had actually comeback and tied the game 5-5, despite Acuña’s grand slam).

Probably not the best first pitch Alex Wood could have thrown to the National League’s third best hitter (.309). Like Acuña, Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman did not miss it, for the eventual game-winning solo home run.
(Video capture courtesy of FS1)

But hands down, the single biggest reason why the best team in the NL East beat the best team in the NL West was the exact same culprit that has plagued Dodgers manager Dave Roberts’ team all season long, and now into the postseason – the Dodgers complete inability to hit with runners in scoring position, of which they were a horrendous 1-for-9 (.111) against a very hittable Atlanta pitching staff on Sunday night.

How hittable, you ask? The Dodgers actually outhit the Braves seven to four, including a huge two-run home run by Dodgers starting left fielder Chris Taylor, followed two batters later by a solo home run off the bat of Dodgers 2018 home run leader Max Muncy in the top of the fifth inning to tie the game at five. The problem is, the Dodgers stranded nine base runners on the night.

“To take us over the top and take the lead again, we just couldn’t get that one extra hit,” Roberts said, almost dismissively (but not unexpectedly) after the game – Heaven knows, he’s been saying it all season long.

To be fair, the three-hour and 36 minute-long contest was extremely exciting  – despite the immensely annoying and almost continuous tomahawk chop – and it most certainly could have gone either way. In fact, after giving up the grand slam, Buehler was absolutely brilliant, retiring the next 11 batters he faced, five via strikeout. And even though he allowed those five runs on only two hits, he finished his 5.0 innings of work having struck out seven while walking three.

“Sometimes you just lose it,” Buehler told reporters after the game. “I’m proud of the way I found the zone after that, but there’s no excuse for the second inning. Sometimes you overthrow or you’re not looking at the right things or you’re not thinking about the right things in the moment and sometimes you get away with it and sometimes you don’t.”

He did not.

Then again, there’s that huge Bellinger error that upset the apple cart and set the stage for Acuña, this in spite of Buehler’s otherwise brilliant performance.

“After that error in center field, I think that [Buehler] lost his focus a little bit,” Roberts said. “And for him to go four straight to the pitcher and obviously you get behind Acuña, so very uncharacteristic. But it was good to see him re-calibrate and give us five innings to, at some point, save our ‘pen.”

Game-4 of the 2018 NLDS is slated for 1:30 pm PT on Monday afternoon at Sun Trust Park and will again be carried live on Fox FS1. Veteran left-hander Rich Hill will toe the mound for the Dodgers opposite Braves right-hander Mike Foltynewicz, who lasted only two innings in the series opener at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, during which he allowed four runs on three hits (including home runs to Joc Pederson and Muncy), while walking three and striking out five to suffer the eventual 6-0 shutout loss.

Play Ball!