Things have shifted since Atlanta's embarrassing west coast trip to begin the 2025 season. That opening road trip ended with a Shohei Ohtani walk-off homer off Raisel Iglesias, and resulted in the Braves starting 0-7 and the Dodgers beginning 8-0 on the season. Since that heartbreaking defeat you could say the Braves have been successful in flipping the nightmarish script they were writing early in the season.
The Braves obviously haven't looked as bad as they did that opening week of the season. Since falling to 0-7 Atlanta has turned things around offensively, and went 14-9 and winning nine of their last 12 games over the rest of April. For the Dodgers they've been at a much more middle of the road pace, with a 13-10 record over the rest of the month.
Los Angeles leads the National League in home runs, but has really struggled to hit well situationally. Superstar Mookie Betts hasn't been his normal superstar level yet, and players like Michael Conforto and Max Muncy have really struggled lately. In fact, Muncy endured the longest homerless streak of his career before hitting his first home run of the season against Miami on Wednesday.
Pitching has taken a hit for both teams, but the Braves are the only one trending up
The Dodgers have cooled off considerably on offense, but it's the pitching injuries that have been a real crutch to them. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow are key rotation pieces that have been hurt. Meanwhile, the Dodgers just placed key relievers Blake Treinen and Michael Kopech on the 60-day injured list.
The Braves haven't had much better luck on that front as we know. Reynaldo Lopez lasted just one start this season, and the same is true for Spencer Strider who came back just to get hit with a hamstring injury.
Despite that the Braves didn't have any luck on the pitching matchups they drew for the series. The Dodgers will pitch both of their Japanese stars to begin the set, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. Grant Holmes and Spencer Schwellenbach will oppose them respectively, and the series will finish with a Bryce Elder vs. Dustin May pitching matchup.
Thankfully, the Braves offense has done enough to help dig Atlanta out the pit they were in to begin the season. The Braves counted on players like Matt Olson, Sean Murphy, and Marcell Ozuna have been playing much better over the past few weeks. Atlanta has still yet to reach the .500 mark on the season, but a good homestand against a somewhat vulnerable Dodgers team, then four games against the Reds could do the job.
More Braves News from House That Hank Built
manual