Dodgers win NLDS over Braves, continue march for World Series three-peat
Dodgers win NLDS over Braves, continue march for World Series three-peat
Jack Harris Thu, October 8, 2026 at 8:08 AM UTC
0
ATLANTA –– Amid a familiar flow of beer and sparkling wine, every player on the Dodgers wore the same standard-issue T-shirt on Wednesday night.
They had been handed them on the field, in the wake of their latest postseason triumph over the Atlanta Braves in Game 4 of the National League Division Series.
They wore them in unison in a booze-soaked clubhouse, while celebrating another step in their quest for a third-straight World Series title.
“Take October,” each shirt read.
“Take October from us,” however, would have been a more apt tagline.
Los Angeles Dodgers players celebrate winning Game 4 of baseball’s National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Atlanta. AP Photo/Mike Stewart
Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani, right, celebrates winning Game 4 of baseball’s National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Atlanta. AP Photo/Mike Stewart
Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, right, celebrates after winning Game 4 of baseball’s National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Atlanta. AP Photo/Mike Stewart
Yet again, the Dodgers had vanquished a futile challenger. With a 4-1 win over the Braves, they won a tightly-contested –– though hardly in doubt –– NLDS by three games to one.
Up next will be the Milwaukee Brewers, in an NL Championship Series rematch that begins on Sunday.
But for now, the Dodgers’ march toward history continues unabated.
At the start of another October, their crown still isn’t for the taking.
“I think it just goes to this clubhouse, man,” third baseman Max Muncy, the club’s longest-tenured player, said as geysers of beer turned his gray shirt a few shades darker.
“The attitude, the culture, everything that we’ve been building in this clubhouse over the last –– before I even got here. I think that’s what really takes over. It’s just really cool to see guys come in [over the years] and buy-in immediately to what we’re trying to do. And the end result is to win. It doesn’t matter how we get there. We just need to get there. And guys have bought into that.”
This year, gettingthere would mean reaching the highest rung of baseball history.
Eight more wins, and this Dodger dynasty will have a case as the greatest ever in a century and a half of Major League Baseball.
This week’s NLDS, of course, might not be well-remembered in the retelling of that story. The Dodgers were favored from the start. They weren’t discouraged by a Game 2 hiccup. They won on back-to-back nights at Truist Park while trailing for a grand total of one half-inning.
Still, it offered an important reminder of their formula for consistent, relentless, seemingly inevitable postseason success.
“We got to see a lot of the star-caliber players that we have, have big moments,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “But we also got to see the depth of our roster and just the contributions … up and down our lineup.”
Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages (44) celebrates after hitting a two run RBI-single during the seventh inning in Game 4 of baseball’s National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Atlanta. AP Photo/Mike Stewart
On Wednesday night, Andy Pages played the hero, breaking a 1-1 tie in the seventh inning with a go-ahead two-run single.
It was just another star turn in an NLDS that featured Tarik Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto throwing gems, Muncy and Freddie Freeman combining for five home runs, Kiké Hernández and Teoscar Hernández delivering more clutch playoff highlights, and a once-questionable Dodgers bullpen suddenly hitting its most dominant stride.
“I think we can still play even better,” Kiké Hernández declared afterward. “But we did what we had to do to win this series.”
Advertisement
Indeed, the Dodgers didn’t quite overpower the NL East-champion Braves this week, so much as they suffocated them into submission with relentlessly stout pitching and just enough timely swings.
On Wednesday, the Braves struck first, jumping to a first-inning lead after Michael Harris II singled, stole second and came in to score when Tyler Glasnow bounced a two-out, two-strike curveball in the dirt that ricocheted away off Will Smith’s chest protector.
The Dodgers, however, would be gifted the run right back in the second, after Shohei Ohtani –– who was moved to the cleanup spot in the Dodgers’ latest attempt to get his bat going –– made a similar trek around the bases; drawing a walk, going to third on a steal and errant throw, then scoring when shortstop Mauricio Dubón dropped a can-of-corn pop-up in shallow left field.
After that, the Dodgers held steady. Not playing their best, but not allowing themselves to be beaten either.
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after scoring a run against the Atlanta Braves during the second inning. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Glasnow issued five walks over the rest of his 4 ⅔ inning outing, yet didn’t allow any further damage. Alex Vesia worked out of a jam he inherited from Glasnow in the fifth, before Edgardo Henriquez escaped one he inherited from Vesia in the sixth.
“Let’s be real,” Muncy said. “Our postseason is going to rely on our pitching. It always has. It always will.
In the top of the seventh, though, the Dodgers’ offense also held up its end of the bargain.
Despite six quiet innings against crafty Braves right-hander Tyler Mahle, they’d be given enough time to finally string something together.
A one-out single from Teoscar Hernández chased Mahle from the game. Two walks from reliever Didier Fuentes –– including one to pinch-hitting rookie sensation Josue De Paula, who confidently shuffled to first after spitting on a 3-and-1 slider –– loaded the bases and forced another Braves pitching change.
Atlanta Braves pitcher Tyler Mahle pitches during the second inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
That’s when the once-slumping, but recently resurgent, Pages stepped to the plate.
He dug in against Robert Suarez. He delivered a swing that was a year in the making.
Last October, Pages could hardly buy a hit during an historic 4-for-51 postseason slump. This week, his 0-for-7 start to the NLDS spurred speculation he might get benched the way he did in last year’s World Series.
Manager Dave Roberts, however, re-affirmed his faith in the 25-year-old All-Star center fielder before Game 3, declaring: “For us to win the World Series this year, we’re gonna need him to be an active part of our team.”
And right on cue, Pages validated such confidence, having recorded three singles over his previous five at-bats leading up to Wednesday’s seventh inning.
“For me, what happened last year, happened. It’s in the past now,” Pages said in Spanish. “All I can do now is be in the moment. And being in the moment today, I was able to get the result.”
Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages hits a two-run RBI-single off a pitch by Atlanta Braves pitcher Didier Fuentes. AP Photo/Colin Hubbard
Indeed, after working a full-count against Suarez, Pages turned around a 99.7 mph heater, lining his two-run single straight through the middle of the infield.
With the help of nine more outs from Henriquez, Tanner Scott and Edwin Díaz later –– plus an insurance blast from Muncy in the top of the ninth –– it was enough to book the Dodgers a place back in the NLCS.
They had won another pivotal postseason moment. They had taken another October triumph for themselves.
“When you’ve been here before, and you’ve gone through situations like these, it helps you not to panic,” Kiké Hernández said. “It’s easy to panic during the postseason. But we were able to stay within ourselves, stay composed and realize it was just a matter of time.”
Source: “AOL Sports”
