The Atlanta Braves will open National League Division Series Game 1 with left-hander Dylan Dodd, not a conventional starter, when they visit the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.
Dodd did not make a single start in 48 regular-season appearances, yet Atlanta are handing him the first innings of a best-of-five against Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy. The Dodgers are answering with with left-hander Tarik Skubal in a normal Game 1 role, so the series begins as a left-handed chess match rather than a starter-versus-starter duel.
Why Atlanta Braves are opening with Dylan Dodd
Dylan Dodd’s season was built in relief. At 28, he finished 4-1 with a 2.54 earned-run average across 49 2/3 innings. He struck out 53, walked 14, and allowed seven home runs. Those are the numbers of a pitcher who can take an early inning or two, not a man asked to work deep into October.
His longest outing this season was three innings, a length he reached on April 12 and again on May 23. Anything past that would be new ground in the postseason. The job is to set the tone, then hand the ball to a bullpen that already carried the club through a winner-take-all wild-card game.
The left-handed order that shaped the call
The Atlanta Dodgers’ lineup is the reason a left-hander is opening. Shohei Ohtani is batting second, Freddie Freeman fourth, Kyle Tucker sixth and Max Muncy eighth, all from the left side. Switch-hitter Tommy Edman is ninth. That is four left-handed bats in the first eight spots, and Dodd is the matchup Atlanta wants them to see first.
The splits support the choice. Dodd held left-handed hitters to a .171 average in 2026. He was nearly as sharp against right-handers, who hit .180 against him. Freeman will see a familiar division rival. Ohtani, Tucker and Muncy will get an early look at a left-hander they have not faced often in a playoff setting. If the opener works, Atlanta takes the top of the order out of its comfort zone before the game settles.
The same plan that beat the Philadelphia Phillies
Atlanta Braves ran this script on Thursday in a winner-take-all National League Wild Card Series Game 3 against the Philadelphia Phillies. Left-hander Ray Kerr opened and threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings. He allowed one hit and one walk and struck out two. The Braves won 6-2 and took the series two games to one.
Dodd is the next version of that plan, not a copy of Kerr’s outing. Kerr was asked to cover more than three innings in an elimination game. Dodd’s season high is three. If he is pulled earlier, the middle innings fall to a bullpen that was already used hard on Thursday. The risk is real. So is the reward, if the first time through the Dodgers order stays quiet.
Tarik Skubal and the other side of the matchup
Los Angeles is not matching the opener tactic. Tarik Skubal will start in a conventional role, and that creates a left-on-left look for parts of the Braves order as well. Drake Baldwin, Matt Olson and Michael Harris II bat left-handed, and Ozzie Albies switches.
Saturday at Dodger Stadium will show whether a bullpen-first script that worked in a wild-card elimination game can hold up in a best-of-five against the Dodgers. Dodd’s job is the first inning or two. Skubal’s job is the length of a normal start. The series opener turns on which plan lasts longer.