Braves’ postseason journey ends as thin pitching depth runs out of gas

By Mark Bowman, Braves.com

ATLANTA — In the end, the Braves didn’t have enough healthy pitchers. But even if they had, they wouldn’t have had enough offense to prove successful in the postseason.  

There were plenty of reasons for the Braves to be proud of the 94-win regular season that netted them their seventh National League East title since 2018. But as they walked away from a season-ending 4-1 loss to the Dodgers in Game 4 of the National League Division Series on Wednesday night, they still wondered, what might have been?

“You always are [disappointed] when you’re not the last team standing,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “There’s only one team that goes home happy at the end of the year. But I’ve talked all year about how proud I am of this group. This doesn’t change anything.” 

The Braves lost four starting pitchers during Spring Training and three more in September. They were fortunate to acquire Tyler Mahle, who was arguably this year’s best Trade Deadline acquisition. But his addition wasn’t enough to adequately bolster the depleted pitching staff.

While the Braves constructed a pair of bullpen games in this NLDS, the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers used a pair of two-time Cy Young Award winners and two other All-Star starters. The Los Angeles pitching staff limited Atlanta’s offense to a .145 batting average, a .501 OPS and eight runs over four games. 

The Braves also finished the series 1-for-23 with runners in scoring position, the second-lowest batting average with runners in scoring position (min. 20 at-bats) in a postseason series in MLB history behind the Dodgers in the 1966 World Series (0-for-22). 

“They obviously have good pitching, but that’s everyone in the playoffs,” Braves catcher and designated hitter Drake Baldwin said. “That’s something that we have to combat, and we should have been better.”

Even with the offensive struggles and pitching depth issues, the Braves came close to forcing a Game 5. 

Mauricio Dubón’s inability to catch Max Muncy’s routine pop fly accounted for the only run the Dodgers scored before Mahle was removed with one on and one out in the seventh inning of a 1-1 game. He had thrown just 85 pitches, and his four-seam velocity in the sixth inning (94.9 mph) was actually higher than it was in any of the first three innings.

But once Teoscar Hernández singled in the seventh, Weiss went to Didier Fuentes, who had thrown 47 pitches while tossing 3 2/3 scoreless innings against the Dodgers on Sunday. 

It didn’t take long to see this wasn’t the same 21-year-old hurler that had wowed a few days earlier. He recorded a strike with just four of 14 pitches on Wednesday and the five four-seamers he threw averaged 95.9 mph. The 25 four-seamers he threw on Sunday averaged 99.7 mph. 

“We had all our best relievers lined up ready to go,” Weiss said. “That’s been the strength of our club all year. You’ve got Fuentes sitting there. He was one of the best relievers in the game. Same with [Robert] Suarez.”

Fuentes walked two of the three batters he faced. Suarez then entered with the bases loaded and promptly allowed Andy Pages to hit a go-ahead two-run single to center against a 3-2 pitch clocked at 99.7 mph. 

“There’s not one pitcher that wouldn’t have been mad or whatever [when removed],” Mahle said. “But it was the right move.”

But was it right to expect Fuentes to be effective considering he threw as many as 40 pitches just once in September? Why was he needed for 3 2/3 innings on Sunday? Well, that can be traced back to the fact that Chris Sale and Mahle were the only traditional starters Atlanta used during the first two rounds of this postseason.

It was fun to see Ray Kerr shine as an opener in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series and again in Game 2 of the NLDS. But when he exited Sunday’s game with two outs in the third inning, Weiss had to play bullpen door roulette for 19 outs. Once Grant Holmes and Dylan Lee struggled, the game reached a point where Fuentes and Raisel Iglesias were the only high-leverage options to record the game’s final 12 outs.

“Should the Braves have added a starting pitcher?” is a question that has been asked going back to the offseason. The question was asked again after Mahle was the only starter added before the Trade Deadline.

There may have also been a need to add a reliever, especially with Suarez sidelined from late June until the regular season’s final week. His appearance on Wednesday was just his fifth since ending his three-month stint on the injured list.  

As for Lee’s late-season struggles, those influenced the choice to have Sale record the final four outs of Game 3 of the Wild Card Series just two days after throwing 95 pitches in Game 1. The lingering effect was seen when his command was a little off while he allowed two home runs over five innings in the Game 3 NLDS loss to the Dodgers.  

Still, Sale allowed just three runs over five innings. That’s something championship-level offenses can overcome. But beyond Harris (1.115) and Ozzie Albies (1.067), none of the Braves’ regulars had an OPS above .513 in the postseason. 

“Everybody wanted to do it for each other,” Dubón said. “It didn’t happen and it sucks.”