Braves, Dodgers Face Same MLB Playoffs Dilemma: Too Much Time Off

As Major League Baseball heads toward Labor Day, two of the six divisions are already decided with two more on the cusp. It’s the second year of the new 12-team playoff system, and as Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said this week, the postseason is “a crapshoot.”

Nobody knows that better than the division-leading Dodgers and Atlanta Braves.

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Last year, both teams won their respective National League divisions. The Dodgers amassed a Brooklyn/L.A. franchise record 111 wins to take the West by 22 games over the San Diego Padres. The Braves tied the New York Mets with 101 wins, but were awarded the East title and a first-round bye because they defeated the Mets in the season series.

In the new format there are no longer any tie-breaker games, no thrilling Game 163s to decide a Wild Card berth or a division title. No more Bucky Dent homers, nor a Bobby Thomson shot heard ‘round the world.

The Mets hosted and lost a three-game Wild Card series against the Padres, leaving the Braves to sit around five days awaiting their own best-of-five division series. One would think the Braves could’ve used a breather, and the Dodgers were well-rested, having not played a meaningful game after the All-Star break.

Yet when the smoke cleared, it was the Philadelphia Phillies and Padres in the NL Championship Series. The three 101-win or better teams all went home early.

“The week off is not ideal,” Roberts said. “The format is the format.”

Now, here we are again. The Braves and Dodgers, currently at 87 and 83 wins, respectively, are on track for 100 victories with one month of the regular season remaining. The spread in the NL East between the Braves and Phillies is 13 1/2 games. The Dodgers own the West by 14 1/2 games over the San Francisco Giants.

After the end of the regular season on Oct. 1, the four Wild Card series are set for Oct. 3-5. The division series don’t start until Oct. 7. The two teams in each league with the best record will get the bye and, this year, six days off. Last year, that turned out to be a curse in the National League; it didn’t hurt in the AL. The New York Yankees and Houston Astros had no problem with it; the best two teams in the American League met in the AL Championship Series, where the Astros swept.

“There are some challenges to not playing,” said Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw, whose 9-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium was the 209th of his career, tying him for second place in Dodgers history with Don Drysdale. Don Sutton is first at 233.

“It’s a game of repetition,” he added. “The hitters, particularly, get in a certain rhythm. In all it’s not great. It’s the lesser of two evils. Would you rather play a three-game series and have your whole season come down to that? I think we’ll take the time off if we have the choice.”

The Dodgers and Braves made the choice by building two of the best teams in Major League Baseball, which produce results year-in, year-out. The Dodgers defeated the Braves in the 2020 NLCS played in the pandemic bubble and went on to defeat Tampa Bay in that World Series. In 2021, the Braves beat the Dodgers in the NLCS and defeated the Astros in the World Series. In 2022, the Astros beat the Phillies.

But last year, having the best regular-season team didn’t pay off in the NL. The Dodgers lost to the Padres in a four-game NLDS and, while the Braves fell to Philly in four. Braves manager Brian Snitker said at the time his club was just beaten up after their season-long tussle with the Mets for the division title.

“We had a really strong year. The goal was to get into the postseason,” Snitker said. “You just never know when you get there where it’s going to take you and what’s going to happen.”

The Dodgers, meanwhile, were stale and ran into a buzzsaw of a Padres team that upset the Mets at Citi Field. Los Angeles took the opener but lost three straight, and its playoff run was over. That raises the question about expanding the division series to seven games in deference to the teams that finish the regular season with the best records. Even though the circumstances are always different, the bye week should never serve as an inadvertent penalty.

“This year will be different, though,” Kershaw said. “Especially with the Braves a few games ahead of us for the best record. There will be something to play for at least down to the last couple of weeks. We’re also playing teams that are trying to make it, too. We’re going to have to put our best foot forward.”

To his point, the American League East and West are still wide open. The Baltimore Orioles narrowly lead the East over the Rays. In the West, the Astros, Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners are all jostling for first place. The Minnesota Twins have a comfortable lead over the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central. In the NL Central, the Milwaukee Brewers are trying to hold off the Chicago Cubs.

As far as the Wild Card is concerned, in the AL four teams are in the best position to fight for the three spots. In the NL, six teams are. That leaves a lot of jockeying to go.

The division winner with the worst record and Wild Card team with the best record will host all three games of the Wild Card series. Hosting didn’t mean much last year as the Mets, St. Louis Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays all lost. Only Cleveland was able to protect its home field, ousting the Rays.

Likewise, late-season momentum didn’t play much of a role last year. The Phillies (14-17) and Padres (16-14) played mediocre ball the last five weeks of the regular season. But they both made the playoffs and got hot. The Braves and Dodgers did not.

“What we’ve learned is that once we get closer, we’ll start ramping up the focus,” Roberts said. “I’m not sure what we could have done more as far as preparation was concerned, but I still think we could’ve been more focused as we went into last postseason.”

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