{"id":868119,"date":"2026-10-02T09:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T09:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/868119\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T09:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T09:58:14","slug":"how-the-dodgers-are-preparing-for-nlds-showdown-with-braves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/868119\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Dodgers are preparing for NLDS showdown with Braves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The deciding game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves<\/a> played silently on the Dodger Stadium scoreboard Thursday as Dodgers players practiced below.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers<\/a> were less than 48 hours away from the first pitch of the National League Division Series<\/a>. The \u201c2026 Postseason\u201d decals had been freshly painted up the baselines that afternoon. All that was left to be decided was their opponent \u2014 the winner of the game serving as the backdrop of their intrasquad scrimmage.<\/p>\n

About a half an hour after the Dodgers cleared the field, the Braves advanced to the NLDS with a 6-2 win over the Phillies<\/a>. The Dodgers and Braves will open the best-of-five series at Dodger Stadium on Saturday at 1 p.m. PDT.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the team to beat,\u201d veteran utility player Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> said. \u201cWe are the team that you have to go through. And that\u2019s all nice words and everything, but we got to take care of business on the field. But I feel great about my team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers are the reigning back-to-back champions and are aiming to become the first National League team to win three World Series in a row.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously it\u2019s there, but it\u2019s not something we\u2019re really focused on,\u201d veteran third baseman Max Muncy<\/a> said of the three-peat chase. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to focus on ourselves getting ready this week, paying attention to whoever we might be playing and just trying to get ready for a postseason series the same way we\u2019ve always gotten ready for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need to be adding any extra pressure onto ourselves. We\u2019ve been saying that for a long time. When you talk about three-peating, you\u2019re putting that extra pressure on it that doesn\u2019t need to be there. Winning a World Series is already hard enough as it is. So for us, we\u2019re just trying to focus on what we have ahead of us and without the added noise to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, how did the Dodgers get ready for the postseason? Their bye week consisted of wild-card watch parties, batting practice, live pitching \u2014 from a long list of arms on Wednesday, especially \u2014 and an open workout Thursday that culminated in a scrimmage. Right-hander Tyler Glasnow<\/a>, who\u2019s penciled in to start Game 4 of the NLDS if necessary, started for the home team Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of showing up, checking a box to work out, then eject, I think that sacrifice from friends, family, it\u2019s important,\u201d manager Dave Roberts<\/a> said. \u201cWe\u2019re at the home stretch. We\u2019re in the playoffs, and so I think that the more guys spend time with one another, it just lends itself to just more togetherness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, left, talks with third baseman Max Muncy during practice Thursday.<\/p>\n

(Mark J. Terrill \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

The Dodgers have figured that out over five postseasons in this format. This is their fourth with a bye \u2014 after going through the wild card last year. And they introduced the watch parties in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve earned the bye and you should take that time to rest and recover,\u201d Muncy said. \u201cBut you don\u2019t want to give guys too much time to be at home and get that taste of what it might be like. That really worked for us back in 2024. You get guys here to the field. You\u2019re not forcing anyone to do anything but you\u2019re making all the guys hang out together for extended periods of time when they could be at home enjoying family time \u2014 which is great for everybody but not when you know what\u2019s coming for us ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to be facing a team that\u2019s already been through the fire. They\u2019ve already been through the emotions. They\u2019ve already been through the roller coaster which is the postseason. It\u2019s hard to go from an at-home setting to trying to find a way to flip the switch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Braves have, indeed, been through the fire. They claimed the No. 3 seed with a 94-68 record and the NL East title. They took Game 1 of the wild-card series against the Phillies but lost Game 2 in extra innings, forcing a winner-take-all Game 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The deciding game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves played silently on the Dodger Stadium scoreboard Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[13087,366135,4279,15635,5460,366136,37914,366137,17436,363,366133,366134,480,65189,41409,99,1599],"class_list":["post-868119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-braves","tag-dodger-stadium-scoreboard-thursday","tag-dodgers","tag-field","tag-game","tag-home-stretch","tag-hour","tag-intrasquad-scrimmage","tag-long-time","tag-mlb","tag-more-guy","tag-nlds-showdown","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-postseason","tag-same-way","tag-sports","tag-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}