Which Team Should the Atlanta Braves AVOID in the Postseason

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. To win the World Series, you're gonna have to take down some great teams, especially in the National League. But which team possesses the biggest threat and worst matchup for the Braves? I'll answer that question a many more on this week's YouTube Mailback episode of Lockdown Brave. You are Lockdown Braves. Your daily Atlanta Braves Podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Hey, welcome back to Lockdown Braves. I'm your host, Jake Masteryani. And today's episode is brought to you by Fandall. Conscivile of all Saturdays are already packed with reasons to get excited. In this season, Fandall is giving fans even more ways to get in on every matchup, join all the action at Fandall.com. This is our weekly YouTube Mailback episode where I answer all the questions you submitted

1:00on YouTube. We only got eight questions this week. I did mix up the timing of me sending that out. I sent it out on Thursday night just like I started doing the Mailback questionnaire on Twitter as well. So I apologize if that threw some of you off, but I am starting to submit those on Thursday night just so I can do a little bit prep to be more prepared on Friday when I record these episodes. I am recording this on Friday afternoon before the Philly series begins. So hopefully you are celebrating Saturday morning after a big win on Friday night and getting ready for a college football Saturday. But just eight questions to get to on today's episode. Let's get right into the first one here. This one from Anthony who says, come post season, which team do you definitely don't want to face and which one do we have the best chance to dominate and why? And good question. But I'm going to answer it kind of vanilla, which fits my style. It doesn't really matter. And what I mean by that is I think all the teams in the national league are really good.

2:04And I think they all have a legitimate shot at making a run, maybe outside of the the Diamondbacks or Padres, whichever of those two teams get in. Hobbs, Phillies, Dodgers, Braves, Brewers. I think those are all maybe five of the best teams in baseball. And so I think they all have a legitimate shot at making a deep run the post season. So there isn't a give me in the national league. There isn't a team that we would face that I would feel overly confident in, especially not with the way that the Braves offense has been up and down. There isn't a matchup that the Braves will have, whether they're in the Wild Card Series or they get the buy in or in the division series. There isn't really a matchup that I feel completely confident in. Can the Braves win all of them? Yes. Can they lose all of them? Yes. And that's kind of my whole point in this is that I don't know that it really matters all that much.

3:05I guess if you want to talk about the team that I'm scared of the most in Braves fans aren't going to like me saying this, it's probably the Phillies. Just because of the post season history that we've had against them, you know, going back to the, you know, 2022 and 2023 seasons, which I know we're a little far removed from now, but they still hurt. They still sting a little bit. And it's just kind of that hurdle. Now I want to play them because I want to get over that hump. Same thing that I said in, in 2021, I want to play the Dodgers again after we couldn't get past them in 2020. I wanted the Dodgers again because I didn't want it to be some sort of fake post season run where you didn't have to take down the juggernaut. We did. We did that in 21. So I'm all for playing the Phillies again and getting over that hurdle and perhaps that giving them the confidence to boost them into a world series like it did in 2021 when they got past the Dodgers. It felt like, you know, who can stop us now? But I think as far as match up wise, I mean, the Phillies have a dominant top of the rotation because when I think of teams that, you know, best match up against the Braves, you know,

4:12obviously I think about starting pitching that is going to dominate our boomer bus type of offense, dominating type of pitching. Dodgers have that Phillies have that brewers have that. So I mean, that's those are going to be three really tough matchups. You know, I think you would say that the Cubs and the either the dime backs of the Padres are going to be one of the more favorable matchups. So if you can somehow get one of them and whether it be the wild card series or in the division series, any that does give the Braves a significantly better chance of advancing, but at some point, you're going to have to play at least one of the Dodgers, Brewers and Phillies. And I think all three of those teams really give the Braves some problems just because of their pitching. I think has the ability to dominate the Braves offense when they're not getting those home runs and we'll get a good picture of that this weekend against the Phillies as you're going to get three really good starters for potentially depending on which version of Nola and which version of Wheeler you're going to get.

5:15And we'll see how the Braves offense stacks up has not been great against postseason pitching, like we saw for the most part in the month of August. Now the Braves pitching has been up to the task and kept them in those games. But for the most part, we saw the Braves lose those series in August, except for the Dodgers one that they swept. So again, not to kind of sidestep the question, but they're outside of like I said, maybe the downbacks and maybe the Cubs, although the Cubs are a really good team that offense is getting going at the top, obviously a PCA going to be the MVP. Breggman's gotten high in the second half to Zuki. They've got a pretty good top half of that lineup. They play really good defense. Their pitching is okay. And maybe that's why I'm not quite as scared of them because I think pitching wise the Braves could could hold up against the Cubs. But I think every nationally team has a legitimate shot at making a run in the postseason, which I think will make it a really interesting and fun postseason. I don't think it's I don't think it's all Dodgers in the national league.

6:18I think they can be taken out. We've seen the Braves beat them five out of six times a year. Now that doesn't quite match up because in the postseason, you know, you're going to be able to line up your starters and you're just going to use your top arms and all of that. But still the Braves have been able to take them down there. Three and three against the Brewers there. I think a winner to away is I'm recording this on Friday afternoon from clinching the season series over the Phillies. So they've held their own against those top teams that I'm telling you. I think match up very favorably, not in the Braves favor in the postseason. Yeah, but I would say the Phillies just because of the history is the one as a fan that generally gives me a little bit of pause. But the Dodgers obviously are the defending back to back champs. We got to give them a ton of credit. It's going to be a tough field, no matter what path the race have to go through. They're going to have to beat some outstanding teams that are capable of shutting them down. And that's just the reality of it. Matthew G says, if all teams, including us, finish the season in the current standings and performing the exact same way as now, how do you predict the playoffs go for us?

7:20So if the season ends today and again, I'm recording on Friday afternoon, the Braves would have to buy over the Dodgers because of that tiebreaker. So they would face either the diamond backs or Dodgers, probably the Dodgers. And well, I don't think it's a set of minute ago. It's not a devastating match up for us. We beat the Dodgers five out of six times this year. I would probably still take the Dodgers to beat us. And I think you said, you know, how teams are playing right now. The Braves are eight and two in their past 10 and the Dodgers are four and six. But just as somebody who watches all the Braves games, it doesn't feel like it's going to be like they're eight and two in their last 10 right now. And the offense just still very much gives me pause. And it's, again, as I said a minute ago in a post season series, the Dodgers are going to be able to line up their best starters and they're going to be able to line up their best pitching in that. And that's the only reason that gives me pause. But could the Braves beat them? Sure. Yeah, they beat them this year. They are, the Dodgers are more than capable, I think of being beat. I don't think they're this overwhelming juggernaut like they have been in the past.

8:24I think they're on pretty even playing field with the the Brewers, the Braves, even the Phillies and maybe even the Cubs too. So I think it's a very even field in the National League. And it's just who's playing the best at that time. And I think that's kind of the question you're asking now, who's playing the best right now? I'd probably take the Brewers. They just split a four game set with the Cubs, but they've been kind of on cruise control. They took a series from us. They took a series from the Dodgers not long ago. I'd probably have to go with the Brewers at rotations, you know, really coming together. Harrison, Henderson and and Mizorowski over there are really, really sharp. So I think I'd have to take the Brewers, but they said that multiple times and the National League has a lot of good teams. And I can see anyone outside of the Diamondbacks making a run, but I don't think it's a heavy Dodgers favorite. They probably will be going in. They'll be the favorite no matter what, because they are the Back to Back champs. And until you knock them off, you got to give them the benefit of the doubt and understand that. But I do think it's a pretty even field in the National League right now, which is fun.

9:27Again, I can't wait to see it unfold. And hopefully the Braves are playing their best baseball at that time. I wouldn't say they are right now. And I think that's the ultimate question that you're asking there is, is this Bravesine playing good enough baseball right now that at the postseason starting today, you'd feel confident and then winning the World Series. And I just can't say that with what I've seen from the offense. Until I see the offense become a little bit more dynamic top to bottom, I just can't confidently say that they can make it the postseason run. But again, hopefully that can change over the next couple of weeks. And we will know a lot more after this stretch that the Braves are about to go through. All right, several more questions here left to get to on today's YouTube at Mailbag episode. I'll get into the rest of them and some more here at next. Football Saturdays are already packed with reasons to get excited. And this season, Fandall is giving fans even more ways to get in on every matchup. Back your favorite team, build a same game, Parlay, Bet team props, or make your picks on the biggest games of the weekend.

10:27And throughout the season, keep an eye on the Fandall app for even more ways to get rewarded. With a full slate of college football every Saturday, there are plenty of opportunities to follow the games and find new ways to get involved. There are so many games happening throughout the day. And I like being able to jump from one match up to the next. Having Fandall gives you more ways to get involved across the entire Saturday instead of just focusing on one game. Also, please make sure you check out Fandall.com for all of the latest odds, not just on college football, but baseball as well as we round out the season. And check out Fandall.com slash play with a plan for help on how you can play responsibly. And if you have a gambling problem, please call 1-800-Gamberler. For more information visit fandall.com to get started today. Today's episode is brought to you by the Dell XPS. I'm Wes Goldberg from Lockdown NBA Daily and Lockdown Heat. So what does it feel like to have a better laptop like the Dell XPS powered by Intel Core? With a premium design that's thin and light, it feels smooth. With a responsive touch screen, it feels fast and precise.

11:29And with long lasting battery life, it feels like non-stop energy with a laptop that can keep up. Built for those who want better, the Dell XPS. Built for you. What Creek Cattle says of all the current wild card teams, NL and AL, which do you think has the best chance at a run to the World Series? And this is an easy one for me. It's the Yankees. I thought at the beginning of the year the Yankees were the best team in baseball came out on fire, that pitching staff. If all healthy and that's questions as a Braiswans know with Max Fried, he can get a blister at any moment. He can start feeling sick at any moment. You're talking about, you know, Cam Schlipler, Max Fried, Garrett Cole. I mean, that is a rotation that can run through the postseason. I don't necessarily know the status of their bullpen and how great it is, but that pitching staff is definitely good enough. In fact, at the postseason started day, I might put the Yankees as my favorite to reach

12:30the World Series because of that pitching staff and how good it is. But it does need to be healthy. And that's been a bit of a question mark and how far can you push? Cam Schlipler in his first full season at the big lead level. But I think the Yankees are the definite answer there. In the national league, obviously the Phillies, I think with their pitching staff to, you hear me talking about pitching staffs and that's really what I put a lot of stock into come postseason time. Do you have two or three starters in three or four bullpen arms? So overall about five to six arms that you really trust because that's what you need to make a run in the postseason that are just having offense that is on fire and hitting home runs like crazy like the Braves had in 2021. And they had some some good pitchers there too. Specifically that bullpen was dominant that postseason run. But you got to have about five or six just dominant arms that you really trust to get through the postseason. I think the Yankees have that. I think the Phillies have that assuming the Phillies are a wild card team.

13:31You know, the Braves are a wild card team. I would say the same thing about them. But yeah, as of the standings today and that's what you said current current wild card teams. Yankees in American League will be a definite one for me Phillies in the national league. And as I said earlier, I think every national league team has a has a chance. I wouldn't put the Cubs outside of that either. I just don't know that I like their rotations as much as I do the Yankees or the Phillies. All right. A bunch of questions here from the dude abides. First one says you mentioned this team will need that big bad. Who would you like to see a go after in the off season? So just in terms of free agents really quickly. And this was just at a glance. I'm not moving to the off season. All of the dude abides questions here about the off season. Don't give up on this season yet. We still have a lot to play for. But I will just kind of briefly answer some of your off season question here. Again, just looking at free agent Suzuki Springer. I know he's getting old, but kind of that veteran that you could plug in the left field. Ian Hap and Taylor Ward, somebody that I liked to the trade deadline. He would help with that on base issue that the braves are having.

14:31Somebody you could put at the top of the lineup ahead of Akunya. So those would be some of the names that I'd be looking at in free agency. Another one from the dude abides says you mentioned this team needs another starter next year. Last mailbag I threw out the names of Joe Ryan or redept merge be a trade with this team's injury history. I would trade some prospects for another arm and sign another arm via free agency this off season just to play it safe. Who would you like to add this off season? Derek's Google obviously would love to see that outside of that. There aren't really any free agent starting pictures that I love. And as we talked about on the last podcast, I just don't see Alexander's office ever giving a long term extension to a starting picture. So unless you can find a veteran like they've done in the past with with Morton and now with sale, somebody that might want to go on a year to year type of thing. Maybe you could do that with a Robbie Ray or a Kevin Gosman Chris Bassett just getting out there. Yeah, there aren't a lot of starting pitching free agents out there that I'm just in love

15:32with. And I don't expect Alex and Thaibos to really spend big on starting pitching anyway. It's just the reality of it. Another one here from the dude abides who says if AA does extend and resu to bond and I think he should, how many years would you give Mauricio until one of the three shortstop prospects comes up? So talk about this a lot with dude bond. I think three years is the max that I'm giving him. And I think somewhere between 12 and 15 million is probably fair. It's just I don't know if he's a, I don't know if you sign him as a full time starter. I mean, they gave Hassan Kim 20 million for one year. So again, if you're giving him three years, I think 12 to 15 million sounds fair for a guy that may not be quote unquote an everyday guy. He might be your everyday shortstop until one of the prospects are ready. But I think ideally, and I said, it's coming into the year, you're using DuBon as a super utility guy for when you know that injury hits that he can fill in and he can hold down

16:36the spot in somebody that can help give guys days off. So like the game on Friday, although it's a little bit controversial, you were able to get Michael Harris out of there against a tough lefty that he has bad history against and put DuBon in center field. You've seen him, you know, give Riley days off at there, Ozzy days off at second. So you can just take him out line of all together or D H. So I think that's very valuable. And I think that's worth that type of years and money for DuBon, even if that's just who he is, not a guy that has an everyday spot, but a guy that you can move around, give other players days off. I still think that's very valuable and a clubhouse leader. And I'd be worth it, I think to pay that type of money for Mauricio DuBon. So I think that's where I would kind of max out at him three years, somewhere in that 12 to 15 million dollar a year range, I think would work for Mauricio DuBon, essentially kind of taking on the Jerry some profile contract. Of course, that's another thing you're going to have to deal with because he's actually

17:38on the book still for next year, but kind of similar to the Jerry some profile type of deal, something like that. All right, we got a couple of more questions left to answer on this week's YouTube at Milvag episode before we wrap things up and we'll do that next. Big thank you to our friends at Amazon for this limited ad break. This back to school season spend less on your kids with Amazon. We all know how crazy the back to school shopping experience can be. It starts with a few items on the list and then suddenly you're shopping for supplies, clothes, lunch gear, tech and about 10 other things you didn't see coming. It adds up fast like when you look at the school supply list and wonder if you're shopping for one child or opening a small office supply store. I didn't realize first grade required this much inventory shopping like this can get out of control if you're not careful or when it's 9 p.m. the night before school starts and somebody suddenly remembers they need folders, notebooks, markers, and apparently 12 other things nobody mentioned until now.

18:39Nothing gets the heart rate up quite like emergency school shopping. And I'm convinced that primes deliver tomorrow before 7 a.m. feature was created exclusively for parents caught in this moment. So remember with Amazon's low back to school prices just been less on your kids because every dollar you don't spend on them is a dollar you haven't spent on them yet. Shop back to school at Amazon and spend less on your kids. All right, two more questions here. The first one from Brent one to nobby who says is the lane Thomas really an upgrade over what Eli White offered. And look since the trade deadline Eli White is batting 176 against lefties three for 17 with a nine WRC plus now he's hitting 333 against righties in 21 at bats. He has nine runs scored overall one stolen base two walks to nine strikeouts. So let me just give you lane Thomas's numbers real quick. Lane Thomas he's batting 194 overall and 36 at bats, which is not great.

19:41Five runs scored four walks two steals with 12 strikeouts. But against the lefties lane Thomas is hitting 318 he's seven for 22 at 163 WRC plus. So for what the braves got lane Thomas for he's been excellent. He is handle lefties and that's why you traded for lane Thomas. So in terms of why the moves were made and why you let Eli White go or traded him and why you acquired lane Thomas. Yes, it's been worth it because lane Thomas has been good against lefties. It's just he's had some head bats in there against righties two that are really bringing his overall numbers down and he just haven't had a lot of opportunities. I mean 22 at bats since he's come over against left handed pitchers. So again, for what lane Thomas was supposed to be he's been fine. And for and again, looking at Eli White, just number since the break, he hasn't been good against lefties. So I would say that it was a great move, even though the overall numbers between the two would seem to favor Eli White.

20:44Lane Thomas has done what you acquired him to do. So I still think it was the the right move. Last question here. This one from Nathan Boehner for life who says, during the post season, do you think we will see Walt return to his early season managerial strategy? And yes, 100%. The way that you manage in the post season is way different than how you manage in the regular season. In the regular season, you are trying to survive 162. And it's unfortunate, but sometimes that means not putting yourself in the best position to win game 73, just using an example there. You are going to manage differently in the post season. And so yes, earlier this year, early on in the first month or so, we saw Walt White is having quick triggers on whether be Bryce Zelda or Grant Holmes or whomever in the fourth and fifth innings when they started running in a trouble and going into that bullpen.

21:45You and I said this at the time, you cannot keep that up over 162. You just can't. You are going to destroy your pitching staff. And to an extent, we may have seen some of that with guys going on the IL, whether it be, you know, Dylan Lee, you know, Iggy Swores. But you can't do that over 162. But in a post season, you absolutely can and should. In the post season, you've got to have that quick trigger. You've got to have that aggressive managerial strategy. You got to hunt wins. You win or you go home. That is what the post season is. So yes, I 100% believe that you will see Walt White's return to his, you know, early season managerial strategy where he was very aggressive with his bullpins and not hesitating to go to a guy in the fourth and fifth innings to get out of a jam and then turning it over to his bullpen guys because it is, you know, you fight to live another day. And you even saw that with with Brian Snicker, who I thought was maybe too

22:46conservative at times in the regular season and not hunting wins. But you saw in 2021, they don't win it without the aggressiveness of a Walt White's, you know, going to that great bullpen and just seeing how on fire that bullpen was in the momentum that they were riding and having no fear and going to those guys. I mean, I always bring it up, but it's the example where you were losing and you go to Tyler Matsik. I want to say it was game three or game four of the World Series. And you're losing. You go to Matsik who holds it right there and you're able to complete the comeback that completely flipped that series. And it's some of that aggressiveness that you're going to have to do where maybe you are down by a runner two and maybe you go to Didier Fuentes to get out of a jam, hold it right there and give your offense a chance to come back. So I definitely think you'll see that what wise come back and you should see that Walt Wice come back in the post season. I understand why he couldn't do that all year long. And I understand that there are some that that Phil, he went too far in the other direction and was way too conservative and lost us some games because of

23:50that. But again, I said it from the jump in the first month or two of the season on the postcast. I said, the strategy is working now, but he cannot keep it up all season long. And at some point he had to pivot a little bit and become a more conservative, but that is not going to be the case come postseason time. All right. That would do it for this episode of a lockdown brave. Thanks so much for tuning in today. Make sure you subscribe to lock down braves on YouTube. Hit that thumbs up button and also subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Go check out the guys at locked on MLB for your second listen of the day. And we will talk to you hopefully after a series win in Philadelphia. Hey, this is Stacy got soulless DC Lundberg Ryan Finkelstein, two Blake war host of locked on Yankees, locked on Mariners, locked on Metz, locked on Angelic, and you're listening to locked on braves, locked on braves, locked on braves are the locked on podcast network. A big thank you to our friends at Amazon for this limited break.

24:52This back to school season spin less on your kids with Amazon. Now we all know how crazy the back to school shopping experience can be. Starts with a few items on the list and suddenly you're shopping for supplies, clothes, lunch gear, tacking about 10 other things you didn't see coming. And it adds up fast like when you buy clothes for back to school. And your kid has a growth spurt two weeks later in your right back where you started. Sometimes it genuinely feels like they're growing faster than your budget can keep up. Or when the teacher supply list arrives and somehow every item feels completely reasonable on its own, then you add everything together and realize just how much stuff one kid needs for one school year. And that's why finding low prices on all things you need makes such a big difference this time of beer. So remember with Amazon's low back to school prices, just spin less on your kids because every dollar you don't spend on them is a dollar you haven't spent on them. Shout back to school at Amazon and spin less on your kids. Thank you for making locked on your first listen every day.

25:54For your second listen, find the all night locked on MLB game night. Every game every night until a world series champion is crowned. Get local analysis on a national scale. Find MLB game night on locked on MLB on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.