After completing a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Los Angeles Dodgers continue their homestand with a four-game series against the Atlanta Braves in what’s be a battle of the top two teams in the National League.
“It’s going to be a fun series,” manager Dave Roberts said. “These guys have been the best team, the class of baseball from the get-go. They can pitch, their ‘pen is solid, their position players are as good as anybody in baseball. So it’s going to be a fun series.”
The Dodgers have gone 24-4 in August but still trail the Braves by four games for the best record. That won’t change after this weekend at Dodger Stadium, but the series has implications for a potential tiebreaker if L.A. and Atlanta finish with the same record.
The Dodgers need to take two of four games in order to win their season series against the Braves. “I think it all matters,” Roberts began. “We play well at home, the sleep patterns, the fans, the stadium familiarity, all that stuff.
“We’ve got (Spencer) Strider, who is arguably the top pitcher in the National League, and (Max) Fried the next day. And then I think we’ve got (Bryce) Elder and (Charlie) Morton, so we’ve got our hands full.”
While finishing with the best record comes with benefits, Roberts is prioritizing the health of his players more than anything else. “I think the main thing is getting to and through October healthy,” he said.
“But I think we do a good job, as I’ve said many times, of just focusing on the day. We’re going to try to win as many games as we can and we’ll see how it plays out.”
Max Muncy: Dodgers focused on ‘playing our game’
Max Muncy echoed similar sentiments as Roberts and downplayed Dodgers changing anything in their matchup with the Braves.
“Just got to go out there and play our game,” Muncy said. “It’s going to be a good series. Baseball-wise, I think there’s a lot of people looking forward to it. But for us, we’ve just got to go out there and play our game just like it’s any other game.
“They’re an extremely good team, but we can’t focus on who the team is. We have to focus on what we’re going to do with our game plan, what we’re going to do on defense, and just go out there and execute.
“The opponent doesn’t matter. If we go out there and just play our game, worry about ourselves and focus on that, we feel pretty confident.”
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