Hey, MLB schedule — what gives? The Braves enter a skid, have to play the Brewers (which doesn’t help with the skid), then get a day off to travel home and… have the Dodgers next? Woof. Yes, the Braves took a series from the Dodgers in Los Angeles earlier this season, but the offensive ineptitude-driven skid continues, and the Dodgers are, well, the Dodgers.
Actually, let’s stay on that for a second. The Dodgers are supposed to be extreme world-beaters on paper, but really, they’ve been just another team. A good team, mind, but not anything obscene. They don’t have MLB’s best record, and in fact, like the Braves, they’re 11-10 in August. They were also “only” 13-11 in July, so they’ve gone about seven weeks being generically above-average rather than anything else. They had a six-game losing streak earlier, something that helped the Braves actually overtake them for the second seed for a time… but they’re in the midst of a six-game winning streak and have put some distance between themselves and the Braves record-wise. This is a chance for the Braves to close that gap, but honestly, the Braves have enough issues right now that setting lofty goals like “catch the Dodgers” doesn’t have much of a sense of immediacy.
Still, the Dodgers are good. They have the second-most position player fWAR, and the fourth-most pitching fWAR, even as they’ve babied their pitching staff to an extreme degree. For example, tonight’s scheduled starter, Tyler Glasnow, has made just seven starts before being shelved with a back injury; this will be his return to active duty for the first time since early May. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani have dominated on the mound, backed by the usual superlative relief performance from a mix of expected-ish (Tanner Scott, with a gigantic rebound after his dreadful 2025) and unexpected (Edgardo Henriquez) sources. The bats, well, you know about the bats. Max Muncy has crossed the 4 fWAR threshold for the first time since 2021, though the Braves do get a break as Andy Pages is out with injury. The Dodgers do feel a bit more stars-and-scrubs-y than they have in recent years, but it’s really more “stars-and-guys-who-produce-at-an-okay-clip” and the combined effect is still daunting.
On the hill for the Braves to start this series will be Bryce Elder, who comes in with a 94/111/99 line (ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-), good for 1.1 fWAR in 137 2/3 innings across 24 starts. Elder has been has usual inconsistent self, though homer issues (see that large FIP-xFIP gap) have made it difficult for him to have an unequivocally good start recently. He hasn’t had a start with an FIP and xFIP both below 4.00 since June 2, and his line is 135/151/107 since. There’s no huge upswing to point to here, though he did acquit himself pretty well against the Diamondbacks in his most recent start (36/99/87), helping the Braves salvage a game of that set.
Elder started against the Dodgers back in LA earlier this season and had one of his better outings of the year, an eight-strikeout, four-walk affair in 5 2/3 innings. The Braves gave him a four-run lead early, and he and the bullpen pretty much rode it to the end of the game. Elder has made six career starts against the Dodgers and has a 5.51 FIP and 4.43 xFIP to show for it. It’s not clear whether that’s good considering it’s him and the Dodgers (his career FIP and xFIP are between 4.00 and 4.50), or disappointing. In any case, those numbers will probably budge in some direction today.
As mentioned, this game will be Tyler Glasnow’s return from the Injured List. As has been the case for much of his career, Glasnow has been excellent when available, but not available all that much. He put together a 66/75/69 line in seven starts this season before hitting the shelf, though even that can be diced up into four dominant starts in five tries at the start of the year, then an outing where something was Probably Wrong (six walks in 5 2/3 innings), and then a start where he lasted just one inning before being forced out with injury. Maybe Glasnow will be rusty, but if he isn’t, facing him probably won’t cure the Braves’ offensive doldrums.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Monday, August 25, 7:15 p.m. EDT
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
TV/Streaming: BravesVision, Gray TV, Gray Media Telemundo, TBS
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM
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