NLCS is set: Braves vs Dodgers in Dallas (Game 1: Monday 10/12 on MLB @ 7:08CT)

[81usaf92]

TV and times are not set yet. I figure it will depend on the Rays- Yankees series if we get nights or afternoons. If the Yankees win then you would figure it would mean the Yankees would get the prime time slot. As far as TV.... it’s either Fox or FS1. I hope it’s FS1 because Fox usually has an annoying former met calling the game with Joe Buck.

But the series starts Monday and goes through Sunday. It’s going to be a tough hill to climb but with our confidence and our offense I say it’s not totally out of the realm of possibilities and we have a better chance of doing it than anyone else. If we had Soroka then I would be 100% confident that we would win. But anyways Chop on.

 

[B1GTide]

Honestly, this team has a puncher's chance, but that is about it. The bats are going again, and the young guys are playing with confidence. Win game 1 and I think they can make it to the WS. That will allow them to keep up their confidence. Fried need to pitch better than he did earlier this week, and he will.

Young teams are more fragile. Need to keep the pedal to the metal. I like the Braves in 6.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

The beauty with baseball is the best team doesn't always win. Two good pitchers.....or two pitchers hitting their stride at the right time......can win a series and make you champions.

Go look at the 1988 Dodgers as a great example. Anybody remember (other than staff ace Hershiser) who their pitchers were - without looking them up? (No, John Tudor got hurt in the LCS). It's a bunch of names out of the phone book. Can you name a regular on that team OTHER THAN Kirk Gibson, who only had one at-bat in the World Series?

Granted, that happens less nowadays, but this is 2020.

 

[81usaf92]

Like I said in the Game 3 thread, If you were to tell me that we would make the NLCS without Soroka then I would’ve told you that it was a fantastic season and everything else is icing on the cake. If we had Soroka then I would say that we would kick the Dodgers butts back to LA in 5. I think we are going to give them a series unlike the Padres, but it’s imperative that we atleast split games vs Buehler and Kershaw. Neither played particularly well against the Padres, and I think we have better pitching and hitting than them. I think whoever wins the NLCS is going to win the WS personally.... so why not us. Braves in 7.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

BRAVES VS DODGERS HISTORICAL RETROSPECTIVE

For the first 40 years or so of the two leagues (AL and NL), the Braves and Dodgers (at times called the Robins) were two of the worst franchises in MLB.

From 1901 to 1946 (46 seasons), the Boston Braves/Beaneaters/Doves finished last or next-to-last 23 times while winning ONE pennant and becoming the first team to ever sweep a four-game World Series (1914). Even the year they won the World Series, they were in last place on July 4th (back in 154-game season).

The Dodgers, by contrast, only had eight finishes of 7th or 8th, but they also had fourteen sixth place finishes (in an 8-team league) with 3 pennants (1916, 1920, 1941) and zero World Series wins. But starting in 1947, everything changed. From 1947-1966 (20 years), either the Dodgers or Braves won the NL pennant 12 times. And they began a bit of a rivalry that continues.

1956 - the Braves go into the final three game series in St Louis leading the Dodgers (who had just won their first-ever WS the previous year) by 1 game. The Braves lose the opener, 5-4, giving up 3 runs in the first and not quite able to win. The Dodgers pick up 1/2 game with an off day. The next night, Hall of Famer Warren Spahn gives up only 3 hits in 11 innings. In the 12th, a Stan Musial double, a walk to Ken Boyer - and Rip Repulski hits a shot off Eddie Mathews's knee that scores Musial, and the Braves lose 2-1. The Dodgers sweep a doubleheader from Pittsburgh and take the lead. The Dodgers and Braves both win on the final day, and the Dodgers win the pennant by a single game.

1957 - the Braves win the World Series while the Dodgers announce they're moving to LA prior to 1958

1958 - the Braves become only the second team in history to blow a 3-1 World Series lead and lose to the Yankees in seven games.

1959 - On September 23, the Braves and Dodgers are tied atop the NL standings. They're tied again on Saturday and again on Sunday. In a best of three playoff, the Dodgers win the first, 3-2. The second game sees the Braves go into the ninth inning with a 3-run lead (5-2) and give up three runs to force extra innings; the Dodgers win in the bottom of the 12th, and the Braves dynasty is over. The Dodgers win the Series in six games.

Then we had a period of time where the Dodgers were mostly REALLY good, and the Braves went back and forth from "okay" to "really bad" (the Braves did win the NL West flag in 1969).

1982 - on July 29, the Braves are 9 games up on the 2nd-place Giants and 10 1/2 up on the Dodgers. LA comes to Atlanta for a four-game series starting July 30 with a doubleheader. To meet ticket demand, the Braves brass removes mascot Chief Noc-A-Homa's Tee Pee from left field, a huge contraption that covered around 250 seats when the Braves were awful. Cruising along with an 8-5 lead in game one heading into the 7th, the Braves give up 5 runs to lose the game. What happened next is the stuff of legend.

The loss kickstarts a Braves slump that sees them go 2-19, with 13 of those losses coming to the Dodgers and Giants. By the time it ends on August 18, the Braves are 4 behind the Dodgers and fading. But the Braves then win 9 of 10 to settle into a first-place tie at the end of August (the sole loss was in 10 innings). The Braves collapse a second time and on September 18, they are 3 1/2 games behind LA with only 15 games left to play. On the 22nd, they're still 3 out with only 10 games to play. Incredibly, the Braves win 7 of 8 while the Dodgers are losing and pass LA going into the last day of the season with a one game lead. The Braves then lose the finale to the Padres, and the Dodgers - who had just eliminated the Giants on Friday night - are leading in the 8th inning to set up a playoff when Joe Morgan golfs a 3-run home run into the seats to give the Giants a win over the Dodgers and send the Braves to the LCS.

Naturally, the Braves lose to the Cardinals in 3 straight, losing game 1 when the umpire crew pulls the teams off the field with the Braves needing only 2 outs to claim a rain shortened 1-0 win. The Cardinals win the repeat game one and go on to win it all.

1983 - on August 15, the Braves lead the 2nd place Dodgers by 5 1/2 when second slugger Bob Horner (in the lineup behind Dale Murphy to prevent him from being walked) breaks his wrist and is out for the season. Atlanta manager Joe Torre swings a trade to bring over Cleveland has been Len Barker for "players to be named later." Immediately, it breaks into the press that one of those players is budding superstar outfielder Brett Butler (as is later confirmed to be true after the season). The Braves implode and lose 23 of their next 25 games and lose the pennant to the Dodgers.

1991 - the Braves trail the Dodgers by 9 1/2 games at the All-Star break. The Dodgers start losing to the two worst teams in the NL (Philly and Montreal) while the Braves start tearing it up. The Braves wind up holding on to win by a game at the end after trailing by 2 games with only six to play and spotting the Reds a 6-0 first-inning lead at Riverfront. The Braves go on to lose the best World Series ever played - naturally after having a 3-2 series lead and losing both games in extra innings.

1993 - trailing the Giants by 10 games at the end of July, Atlanta goes on a 51-17 tear to beat the Giants at the wire when the Dodgers pound them in the finale, gaining revenge for 1951, 1962, and 1991.

1994 - Atlanta fifth starter Kent Mercker tosses the 2nd no-hitter of his career in only his 12th start.....against the Dodgers.

1996 - the Braves draw the Dodgers and the short end of the straw by the first two games being in Los Angeles. The Braves win game one (2-1) in the tenth, game two (3-2) with a comeback in the 7th, and they blow out Hideo Nomo to sweep the NLDS. The Braves eventually blow leads on the Yankees of 2-1 in games and 6-0 in the sixth inning of game four of the World Series to lose.

The Braves have not won a single World Series game since.

The Braves and Dodgers (as of 1994) were no longer in the same division, and they rarely even most the post-season the same year. Until 2013.

2011 - Atlanta collapses and blows an 8 1/2 game wildcard playoff lead in September to lose (the playoff berth) to St Louis in the final hour of the season. The Cardinals, naturally, win the World Series.

2012 - the Braves get hosed on the worst infield fly call in the history of humanity.

2013 - the Braves lose a best-of-five series in four games.....to the Dodgers.

2018 - the Braves draw the Dodgers again in the LDS. Again they lose in four games, and again, it isn't particularly close, either.

In short, the Dodgers pretty much always get the best of the Braves when both are contenders and head-to-head, the only real exceptions being 1982, 1991, and 1996, the latter of which could have gone either way.

 

[B1GTide]

In short, the Dodgers pretty much always get the best of the Braves when both are contenders and head-to-head.

In the future, only write these things if they show that my teams will come out on top.

Thank you

 

[selmaborntidefan]

In the future, only write these things if they show that my teams will come out on top.

Thank you

"Cincinnati......the champions of baseball.....for 1990....."

 

[FitToBeTide]

Thanks for the Dodger/Braves history. Some great games between the two. Looking for an exciting LS. When not playing my Dodgers, I like the Braves. Been a Dodger faithful way back to when da' Bums were playing in Flatbush.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

"Cincinnati......the champions of baseball.....for 1990....."

Oddly enough I actually predicted the Reds beating the A's in 1990. Everybody was picking the A's. I not only predicted the Reds win but also the sweep. I won $10 from a friend that was hugely into baseball (like total stat nerd).

 

[81usaf92]

Announced. NLCS starts Monday on Fox at 8:08 est

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Oddly enough I actually predicted the Reds beating the A's in 1990. Everybody was picking the A's. I not only predicted the Reds win but also the sweep. I won $10 from a friend that was hugely into baseball (like total stat nerd).

That year was the only time I can recall EVERYBODY assuming the World Series was a foregone conclusion. When the Reds won the first game, it was a fluke. When they won the second game, it was "well, 2-0 hasn't mattered much lately." When they won the third, it was "the A's are gonna be the first team to come from 0-3 down." Then when the Reds swept, it became "FIXED!"

(It's amazing how nobody ever thought, "Well, the Dodgers beat them in five games, and the team they fielded wasn't nearly as good as the Reds.") But they all got hung up on 1989 and Rickey Henderson.

If you'll go look closely at the micro stats, though, it should have been obvious Oakland wasn't as good as their press clippings. Sure, they won 103 games - because they went 12-0 against the Yankees, and only FIVE teams in the 14-team American League had winning records, meaning the league was top heavy. In fact, the second place White Sox (94 wins), actually had a winning record against the A's for the year, the only team to do so.

The Reds, by contrast, started the year at 30-12 and then hit cruise control. Their monthly records in the final four months: 16-14, 14-15, 15-14, and 14-15. That's neither a team on fire nor a team ice cold. The National League was more balanced (6 of the 12 teams had winning records). The Reds - like the A's - only had a losing record against one team (the Giants, 7-11), but they were more consistent across the board, too. The Reds would probably have won 100 games, too, if they'd owned the terrible Atlanta Braves (65-97) the way the A's owned the Yankees. Cincy was consistent even against Atlanta, with a 10-8 record for the year. The Reds had a spell in July/August when they went 3-12 and let a runaway briefly turn into a near race.

That was one of my happiest series memories, though, because I hated those boasting A's.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

That year was the only time I can recall EVERYBODY assuming the World Series was a foregone conclusion. When the Reds won the first game, it was a fluke. When they won the second game, it was "well, 2-0 hasn't mattered much lately." When they won the third, it was "the A's are gonna be the first team to come from 0-3 down." Then when the Reds swept, it became "FIXED!"



That was one of my happiest series memories, though, because I hated those boasting A's.

You just described my friend's reaction to each game. When it was 2-0, he was so confident he offered to double the bet. I declined. I kicked myself over that. I just wasn't confident enough that the Reds would sweep.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

Looks like the Rays beat the Yankees.

 

[81usaf92]

That year was the only time I can recall EVERYBODY assuming the World Series was a foregone conclusion. When the Reds won the first game, it was a fluke. When they won the second game, it was "well, 2-0 hasn't mattered much lately." When they won the third, it was "the A's are gonna be the first team to come from 0-3 down." Then when the Reds swept, it became "FIXED!"

(It's amazing how nobody ever thought, "Well, the Dodgers beat them in five games, and the team they fielded wasn't nearly as good as the Reds.") But they all got hung up on 1989 and Rickey Henderson.

If you'll go look closely at the micro stats, though, it should have been obvious Oakland wasn't as good as their press clippings. Sure, they won 103 games - because they went 12-0 against the Yankees, and only FIVE teams in the 14-team American League had winning records, meaning the league was top heavy. In fact, the second place White Sox (94 wins), actually had a winning record against the A's for the year, the only team to do so.

The Reds, by contrast, started the year at 30-12 and then hit cruise control. Their monthly records in the final four months: 16-14, 14-15, 15-14, and 14-15. That's neither a team on fire nor a team ice cold. The National League was more balanced (6 of the 12 teams had winning records). The Reds - like the A's - only had a losing record against one team (the Giants, 7-11), but they were more consistent across the board, too. The Reds would probably have won 100 games, too, if they'd owned the terrible Atlanta Braves (65-97) the way the A's owned the Yankees. Cincy was consistent even against Atlanta, with a 10-8 record for the year. The Reds had a spell in July/August when they went 3-12 and let a runaway briefly turn into a near race.

That was one of my happiest series memories, though, because I hated those boasting A's.

Were Mac and Cansaco that big of jerks?

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Were Mac and Cansaco that big of jerks?

Mac was okay.

Oakland as a whole was not all that different from the Miami Hurricanes in football or the Detroit Pistons Bad Boyz of the same time frame. I won't say they were quite as loud about it, but they over the top believed in themselves beyond confident to incredibly cocky.

I wasn't aware of it so much at the time, but a couple of years later Dave Stewart - then on the Blue Jays - admitted that was a trash talking and arrogant team - Rickey, Stew, Canseco, Eck, and a bunch of the guys. I'm suspecting it wasn't quite as well known because they were isolated out there on the West Coast - plus, it's not like they were in a bunch of brawls on the field. But that was the admission in USA Today's Baseball Weekly a couple of years later when Henderson and Stewart were on the Jays.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

You just described my friend's reaction to each game. When it was 2-0, he was so confident he offered to double the bet. I declined. I kicked myself over that. I just wasn't confident enough that the Reds would sweep.

I was a senior in college that year, and I recall going in to see my Methods teacher on Thursday morning when the Reds had just gone up, 2-0. He said, "You know there's no way this can continue," but we were both pulling for Cincy just because they were the underdogs.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Were Mac and Cansaco that big of jerks?

Dave Parker was on the A's in 1988 and 1989, and when the Dodgers stunned the Mets to win the NLCS, Parker mused something like, "It's a shame we won't get to face the best team in the NL" or some sort of insanely bad putdown that fired up LA. (Remember this - the Mets beat the Dodgers 11 of 12 times in the regular season in 1988. The biggest play of the NLCS that year was when John Shelby walked to lead off the 9th in game 4. Mike Scioscia homered to tie the game at four. Without the walk, the Mets take a 3-1 series lead. However, it's not like the Dodgers were unworthy winners. They lost game one when the Mets came back with 3 runs in the 9th, and they blew game 3 when Jay Howell got ejected for pine tar on his glove. With a couple of breaks, either team could have won that series in five games).

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Looking over the Braves-Dodgers uh "rivalry"....it reminds me a lot of the Yankees- Red Sox in that it wasn't really a rivalry until 2004.

Prior to that - the Yankees ALWAYS won, LOL!!

 

[81usaf92]

@DzynKingRTR @selmaborntidefan do y’all believe in Curses?

 

[DzynKingRTR]

View attachment 11302
@DzynKingRTR @selmaborntidefan do y’all believe in Curses?

This whole city hates him and wants him jobless. Did he do this and think we would all forget?