The Atlanta Braves are now very much in the running when it comes to World Series betting, following their impressive start to the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers
Brian Snitker’s side ran out winners in games one and two before narrowly losing game three, 5-6, following a regular season where the Braves topped the NL East for the fourth season on the bounce, albeit with a lower win percentage than in previous seasons.
Atlanta currently sits at (+350) in the World Series winners odds for 2022 with the Dodgers at (+215) thanks to that game three win. The Boston Red Sox and the Houston Astros are tied at two games apiece on the other side of the draw.
Atlanta Braves Just Two Wins From A Place In The World Series
Despite that loss to the Dodgers, the Braves remain two wins from a place in the World Series, and that gives the Truist Parkside the chance to pick up their first title since 1995, and it’s a chance they won’t want to let slip, especially after winning the first two games in the Series.
Their 88 wins in the regular season represented the lowest among those who made it to the postseason, but that doesn’t seem to have affected their ongoing push for the ultimate prize.
There is, however, concern about the way the Braves fare when they take on the Dodgers, and that may well play a part in the remainder of the NLCS encounters. When it comes to facing their current opponents, in playoff matches since 2014, they have a poor 4-20 record, but that’s something Snitker doesn’t really want to dwell on.
“I don’t know. I mean, they’re really tough here,” Snitker continued. “It’s just kind of been coincidence, I guess, how the games have gone, but I really can’t put my finger on any one thing because we did some really good things in that time, just couldn’t finish a game off.”
Indeed that inability to finish off the Dodgers has led some calling for Snitker to be fired, though one imagines they’d wait until the Series was at least settled before requesting that outcome.
The Braves were close to pushing the Dodgers out of the Series; indeed, a third win would have made the mountain all but unclimbable, but Snitker must still have faith in his team to get back into the Series in game four.
Having been 5-2 up going into the eighth inning, the Braves watched the Dodgers fight back to a 6-5 win, and there may be a concern that letting such an opportunity slip, against the World Series favorites, might prove a morale-sapping event.
There is certainly a precedent when it comes to the Atlanta Braves failing to deliver in the postseason. In each of the past three seasons, they have been dumped out before getting to the World Series, with two of those defeats coming against the Dodgers and the third at the hand of the St. Louis Cardinals.
No doubt Snitkner will be hoping against hope to bring an end to that run and has the coming encounters with the Dodgers to make that hope a reality.