The Atlanta Braves were, by record, Major League Baseball's best team when they sauntered into Dodgers Stadium for a three-game weekend series against the Dodgers. With a 20-9 record entering the series it was hard to argue with anyone who wanted to put the Braves atop their MLB power rankings. By the time the Dodgers were through with them it looked impossible to place any team but LA in that spot, especially among National League clubs.
While the Braves has scuffled a bit in Seattle, dropping two-of-three before heading south to face the Dodgers, they'd still managed to win 12-of-16 and held a plus-48 run differential in 29 games, just one run worse than LA's plus-49 in 33 games. By most accounts Atlanta was on the same level as LA.
Then Friday night came and a string of games began that showed the breadth of the Dodgers' dominance.
LA on Friday won 4-3 in 11 innings despite the fact Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and Max Muncy combined to go 3-for-20 with four strikes out. They did combine for five walks, two RBIs and two runs scored. However, it was rookie outfielder Andy Pages cranking out four hits, including the walk-off single that won the game. They got a strong six innings from starting pitcher Gavin Stone and five innings of one-hit baseball from their bullpen to steal a win.
Saturday the Dodgers flexed their muscles, cranking out five home runs including three from Muncy, one from Ohtani and another from Pages. Their 11 runs scored were plenty for Tyler Glasnow who went seven innings and struck out 10 while allowing just two runs in an 11-2 Dodgers win.
Atlanta on Sunday never had a chance in what looked like a continuation of Saturday night's thumping. Ohtani homered in the first inning to put the Dodgers up 2-0. Teoscar Hernandez launched his eighth homer of the year in the sixth to put the home team up 4-0. Ohtani homered again in the eighth and LA finished off their sweep with a 5-1 win. James Paxton allowed just one run on five hits in 6.2 innings, and the bullpen was perfect in the final 2.1 with four strikeouts.
It was an emphatic three-game beatdown that underscored why the Dodgers feel like an impossible juggernaut. There'll be hiccups along the way as there typically are in the 162-game slog of a Major League Baseball season, but there aren't many holes with LA. They pitched the Braves into just six runs on 17 hits in three games while also pounding out 20 runs on 30 hits.
There's a long way to go in the season, and the Dodgers are beyond celebrating regular-season successes. However, in their first big-time test of the year they removed any doubt that they're the team to beat in the National League.
