What teams will get through to the 2023 MLB NLCS? Our experts give their predictions
As the National League squares off in the NLDS, we look at all four teams and who we think will advance to the Championship Series.
While the American League soaked up all the headlines this season, the National League was busy getting their house in order. The Braves and Dodgers took the top slots in their divisions, as predicted, while the Phillies had to go through Miami and the Diamondbacks had to top the Brewers in the Wild Card series.
Miami had a great run, but are new kids to the show, while the Phillies are no strangers to this line of work, having made it to the World Series last year via the same Wild Card route.
Milwaukee finished on top of a weak NL Central division and were perhaps favored in that series over Arizona mainly because the Diamondbacks are the most underrated team in baseball this season.
Both of those Wild Card series ended in two game sweeps and the hard work is now just beginning. So let’s take a look at who I believe will get bast this stage and slug it out for a place at the big table in the NLCS.
Philadelphia Phillies vs Atlanta Braves
The Phillies have form here. They came down this same road last season, getting through the Wild Card and surprising the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS to make it to the World Series. They are wily and experienced and not to be underestimated.
But this is not last year, and these Braves are not the same Braves that Philly faced in 2022. I think that Atlanta do the business in five games.
Ronald Acuña Jr is fully back from his ACL tear and is ripping the league to shreds. If he were the only one doing that, I would be more circumspect in my pick, but the Braves lineup is loaded and powerful.
Matt Olson is showing that he is more than a solid replacement for Freddie Freeman, banging out 54 home runs this season with a .284 average. In fact, the Braves have three players at 40-plus home runs, more than any other team in the playoffs, and just below that line they have two more over 30. They pack more true power with the bat than any other team, in either league.
The Braves pitching is the only thing keeping this close, with their bullpen particularly banged up. The losses of Kyle Wright and Charlie Morton will be felt in particular. But with Spencer Stryder and Bryce Elder anchoring this rotation, and Max Fried back from injury, there is still a sting in the tail for the Braves.
Philadelphia has power of their own in Kyle Schwarber, but with only a .197 batting average, he is the poster boy for boom-or-bust. More solid bats behind him in the form of Trea Turner, Nick Castellanos, and Bryce Harper have managed to pull up the slack, but it will be difficult to outhit the Braves over five games.
In game one, the key to the Phillies win was their pitching. They worked a brilliant bullpen game, with starter Ranger Suárez going only three innings before running through a slew of one-inning relievers. As a long-term plan, that is simply unsustainable against a lineup like Atlanta’s. The Phillies have taken one and they will take one more, but in the end, the Braves will prove to be too strong for them.
Joe’s prediction of the Braves - Phillies series
You know your baseball Jeff and you’re right, this one will go down to the wire, but I think last night’s game is an example of what the Phillies are capable of. We know the Braves have some great hitters and incredible athletes, but the Phillies’ pitching is strong. I mean, they shut down the Braves’ bats and I think they can do it again, at least two more times. I agree that it’s going to go to five games, but I think the Phillies will win it because of current form. That said, I think they could make it to the World Series.
Arizona Diamondbacks vs Los Angeles Dodgers
It is October again so a couple of things can be taken for granted. One is that the Dodgers will have finished with 100 wins. Another is that they will have topped the NL West with some ease. And a third thing that has become so frequent that it has become almost a given is that the Dodgers will be sent home, dazed and wondering how it all fell apart on them.
The entirety of the 2023 season, no team has been as consistently underestimated as the Arizona Diamondbacks. Head to head with the Dodgers, the Diamondbacks were 5-8. And you can look at that two ways: yes they lost to LA during the season, and yes they can turn it on for a run of three games.
On paper, the Dodgers are the better team. They have come into the post season with a bullpen that, rather than ailing as is usual, is actually mending.
This season marks the fourth in a row that Los Angeles has won at least 100 games, the first team in MLB history to accomplish the feat. Overall, the Dodgers have had 11 such seasons. In none of them have they managed to win the World Series.
Although it may be a case of trusting my gut over my head, I am taking the Diamondbacks on this one.
Arizona has time and again shown that when they are underestimated, the Snakes can strike. In the Wild Card series, they swept a Milwaukee team who felt that they deserved to advance. In game one of the NLDS, Arizona posted 11 runs on the ace of the Dodgers rotation, Clayton Kershaw.
The Dodgers are sleeping on the D-Backs and while it will take the full five games to do it, I think that Los Angeles’ hubris will eventually be their undoing.
What’s Joe’s take on the Dodgers - Diamondbacks series?
I see what you’re saying Jeff. You’re right about the Dodgers in the postseason and even though you have one game in your favor, I’m going to pick the Dodgers. I think they’ll bounce back from last night’s game and even the series today to 1-1. In baseball streaks are everything and patterns are what MLB experts base their opinions on, but after Kershaw’s awful outing on Saturday, the Dodgers’ bats will come alive and eventually win the series 3-2.