“”All the attention, I mean we’re not running for prom king. We’re ready to play this series and this team, which is a quality team. It’s really not that big of a deal that they may be getting more attention than us. At the end of the day, I hope we’re getting all the attention with the World Series.”- Kris Medlen RHP Braves
The Dodgers come into this year’s NLDS as almost the west coast equivalent of the Yankees. The media attention devoted to them has been incomparable, with sexy names like Clayton Kershaw, Yasiel Puig, Zack Greinke and even a shut down Matt Kemp. The Braves on the other hand, come in having led their division seemingly since game 1 and with absolutely no respect given.
The Braves have won the season series against the Braves–winning 5 of their 7 matchups, despite the fact the Dodgers have the best road record.
Let’s get down to the facts, the Dodgers are simply the better top to bottom team. The pitching edge of Kershaw, Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu is a force to be reckoned with altogether.
But let’s not slight the Brave’s starting pitchers, Kris Medlen is one of the hottest pitchers in baseball having gone 4-0 with an ERA of 1.00 in the month of September. But after Medlen things get dicey, Mike Minor hasn’t won a game in over a month, and their number 3 starter Julio Teheran is a rookie–so in the event the series comes down to him, how confident will he be?
Ultimately this series will come down to pitching, and the Dodgers hold a considerable edge. Even with the Braves’ bullpen dynamo in Craig Kimbrel, they still will have to hope for a miracle to get consistent timely hitting off the Dodgers’ trio.
Prediction: Dodgers win in 4