Atlanta Braves vs Los Angeles Dodgers: Bet On Dodgers’ Handicap

The major series of both Leagues, the Championship Series, began in Major League Baseball. It happened violently and inevitably. The Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros had a real fight in the first game of the American League. And they continued on in the second. Coming up was the start of the Nationals. There, the Los Angeles Dodgers will meet the Atlanta Braves in their final showdown.

Baseball is an unpredictable game, and when it comes to the four best teams in the league, it's almost impossible to predict. But we'll give it a shot. Besides, we have a lot to build off of. Especially from the first game last night.

Are the Dodgers the top contenders for the title again?

Last year, the Los Angeles Dodgers were finally able to win the long-awaited title. The team had walked around it for years, played consistently in crucial National League games, and made the World Series on multiple occasions. But the championship rings were never won by the Dodgers.

Many experts believed that manager Dave Roberts was the team's biggest problem. But the team's management continued to believe in the head helmsman, year after year they continued to invest huge amounts of money into the team. As a result, the team developed a very strong core of batters: Justin Turner, Chris Taylor, Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager, and last year the superstar Mookie Betts was added to them. In the pitching rotation, the perennial Clayton Kershaw was joined by the young and talented Walker Buehler, Julio Urias, and Dustin May. And it all worked out. The Dodgers won the championship for the first time since 1988.

This year, the team has gotten even stronger on the slide. Trevor Bauer, the best pitcher in the National League last year, entered the rotation. However, he immediately began squabbling with his partners, the league's management. And eventually got suspended for using banned throwing grease. Considering it's a repeat, many believe Bauer could get a lifetime ban. But the Dodgers wouldn't be the Dodgers if they didn't sign another superstar in his place. The legendary Max Scherzer joined the team near the end of the season and was already the hero of the divisional round against the San Francisco Giants.

Scherzer came over from Washington. Trea Turner, one of the MLB's best young batters, moved to the team from there and ended up being the league's best player in fielding percentage.

All year long, the Dodgers had health issues with their leaders. Still, they fought to the last to win the regular season with San Francisco, losing to the latter by a small margin. But it was as early as in the divisional round that they took revenge on them, beating the best team of the regular season in an incredibly dramatic series. And the main thing is that all the leaders are still in the line!

The Braves had a phenomenal finish

Before the season started, the Braves were considered the hot favorite in their division and one of the hot favorites in the National League. But as the regular season kicked off, something went wrong. The poor play of the pitching rotation, along with the poor offense, blurred the start of the season.

However, the team's big play began to pull them out of its dire straits. Just when it looked like Atlanta was about to catch up, one of the team's leaders, Ronald Acuña, suffered a serious injury. One of the top young stars in the MLB got injured in a way that would make continuing the season out of the question.

And that's where everyone rushed to write off the former contender.

Indeed, even a quarter of the way through the season, the Braves were still in a commanding tie with Philadelphia in the standings. It seemed like they were never going to make the playoffs.

That's when the leaders stepped up. Freddie Freeman, Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies and others started showing their best. Atlanta not only caught up with the Phillies, but confidently beat them in the standings.

On this mental rebound, the team takes the powerful Milwaukee out of the divisional round as well, to repeat the signings of last year's National League Finals: the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. the Atlanta Braves!

Game 1

The first game was predicted to be an opportunity for Atlanta to lead the series. The Los Angeles Dodgers didn't have a starting pitcher in the game for a long time. Everything is clear with Atlanta, they have Max Fried on the mound, who played powerfully in the regular season and worked well in his start in the divisional round.

In his last six starts, Fried has been a consistent winner. His last loss was to the Dodgers on Sept. 2.

Yes, the Dodgers were on an emotional high after beating their main antagonist in the series. However, uncertainty about the starting pitcher, likely fatigue and exhaustion after a wild series could have cost them their first encounter, especially since the Braves know how to play against the catchers. Last year, they were in the lead for the entire series before missing out on the finals.

Still, the game itself was far more interesting than the pregame predictions.

Everything was decided in the end. By one player. Rising Braves star Austin Riley first tied the game with a home run and then brought the team to the win with a walk-off hit. An absolute playoff classic from the 24-year-old batter!

1-0 in the series in favor of the Atlanta Braves.

The teams’ form

Prior to the Champion's Series, the Dodgers won the division series against the San Francisco Giants (winners of the regular season) 3-2. The decisive win came on the road, 2-1. Max Scherzer made his first save ever.

Atlanta was stronger than Milwaukee (3-1 in the series).

Expert Betting Tips

Max Scherzer for the Dodgers and Ian Anderson for the Braves will go on the slide in the second game of the series. Both pitchers are in great form.

Scherzer just became a hero throughout the Los Angeles metropolitan area after bringing in a win against the San Francisco Giants. Scherzer came out in the release and made the first save of his career. He's supposed to be in the starting lineup. And that he will do in Game 2.

Anderson had a great regular season, winning 9 games while allowing 3.58 RBIs and adding a go-ahead run in a win over Milwaukee.

Scherzer is one of the greatest pitchers of our time. He's also on an incredible emotional high. But Andersen has kept a lot of freshness. Let's consider them equal.

So the most important factor in the game has to be batting and relief. Here, we think there's a slight advantage for the Dodgers. Especially since it's time for them to win after losing the first game.

And, given the high class of the starting pitchers, we'll assume that the teams will opt for a low-scoring game again.