The Atlanta Braves haven’t made the World Series since 1999, which is easily the longest drought of the four remaining playoff teams.
The Braves also seemed like the least likely of the four remaining teams to be here at the start of August. When the month began, they were 52-54 and had lost their young superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. for the season on July 10.
Given the history of the team in the 21st century and what happened just during this season, a pennant would be much more meaningful in Atlanta than Boston, Houston or Los Angeles.
Now that I’ve acknowledged why the Braves winning the National League would be significant, allow me to get to the point of this article: you should be rooting for the Los Angeles Dodgers to play in the World Series once again.
(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)
The reason why I believe you should be cheering for a fourth Dodgers pennant in five years is because of their two possible World Series opponents.
A meeting with the Boston Red Sox would add another chapter to the story of Boston trading Mookie Betts. How often does a star player get traded away then make his first appearance as a visitor during the World Series?
And of course, a 2017 rematch against the Houston Astros could be perhaps the most bitter World Series ever played, with no love lost between the two teams or their fans after it was revealed after the 2019 season that the Astros banged on trash cans as part of a sign-stealing scheme during the 2017 season.
Let’s start by examining the Mookie Betts angle.
On February 10, 2020, the Red Sox officially moved their most talented outfielder since Ted Williams to the Dodgers for a package headlined by Alex Verdugo.
Verdugo ended 2019 with a .817 OPS across 106 games in LA in his age 23 season, meaning that the Red Sox weren’t exactly getting rid of Betts for pocket change. Regardless, Boston decided it didn’t want to keep an outfielder who had just won the MVP in 2018 and followed it up with a strong 2019 that included an OPS above .900.
In the shortened pandemic season of 2020, it felt abundantly clear that the Dodgers were the winners of the trade. Even with a .844 OPS from Verdugo, the Red Sox still finished last in the AL East with a 24-36 record. Meanwhile, the Dodgers won the World Series with Betts and enjoyed no shortage of impressive defense from him along the way.
On the offensive side of things, Betts had a solid but unspectacular .871 OPS across 18 playoff games, but he also delivered an eighth-inning dagger during the clinching Game 6, hitting a solo homer to give the Dodgers a 3-1 lead. Corey Seager was the offensive star for the Dodgers in the 2020 postseason but Betts had the biggest overall impact.
Betts has started the 2021 postseason incredibly well, getting hits in five of his first six games, good for a 1.045 OPS. On Thursday night against the San Francisco Giants in the winner-take-all Game 5, he delivered a 4-4 night that included scoring one of the two runs for the Dodgers.
Now, just imagine if he continues this production with a chance to play multiple games at Fenway Park. A towering homer over the Green Monster as a visitor during a high leverage spot would be incredible drama and I don’t think a homer from someone on the Braves like Freddie Freeman would be quite as compelling.
Even if Betts doesn’t deliver a big hit at Fenway, it’d still be surreal that his first time at Fenway on the other team wasn’t a mundane interleague series in June but the World Series.
I think the Dodgers won this trade regardless of what happens in the future, but Betts beating the Red Sox in the World Series would mean that not even Verdugo becoming Ted Willams would make it a good deal.
Now, for the Astros.
Last year we came just one game away from getting the Astros to face the Dodgers in the World Series less than 12 months after we learned about the cheating scheme. The Astros snuck into the playoffs with a 29-31 record thanks to the expanded 16-team field from the shortened season and then knocked off the higher-seeded Minnesota Twins and Oakland A’s.
The Astros then battled back from a 3-0 deficit in the ALCS to take it to Game 7, making it seem like there really was nothing stopping them from getting back to the World Series even with an underwhelming regular season.
However, they lost in Game 7 thanks to one of Randy Arozarena’s many homers last year and came just short of a heated rematch.
Now, things are different from the 2020 postseason. Clayton Kershaw won’t be available for the postseason due to an injury and Houston’s World Series MVP, George Springer, headed north to join the Toronto Blue Jays as a free agent.
Of course, it’s also different because we’ll be back to playing the World Series with full capacity crowds at each team’s home stadium. An Astros-Dodgers World Series last year would’ve been fun, but it certainly would’ve lacked some drama being played at the home of the Texas Rangers with a limited capacity.
This year, the Astros would have the chance to play multiple games in front of a packed Dodger Stadium crowd that thinks Houston stole a World Series from them and sees this year as a chance at revenge. The Astros already played in Los Angeles during the regular season and there was no shortage of loud booing. Now imagine what it’ll be like when the stakes are much higher.
In comparison, I can’t imagine the Astros visiting Atlanta will be met with any especially high level of hostility. The two teams did play an 18-inning deciding Game 4 of the NLDS in 2005, but I’d imagine enough time has passed where the fans aren’t mad about a game that included Chipper Jones and Lance Berkman.
To be clear, I’d be perfectly happy seeing the Braves in the World Series. The way they responded after Acuña’s injury is impressive and it’d be their first pennant in the 21st century, providing a breath of fresh air for this year’s World Series.
However, it just feels impossible to ignore how juicy the two matchups involving the Dodgers would be this year.
BSL Analyst
Rose Katz is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, where she worked for The Diamondback as the online managing editor and a sports blogger. As a student, she spent almost all of her time on campus in The Diamondback’s newsroom or at Xfinity Center, Ludwig Field and Maryland Stadium. Rose gained intern experience with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).