Braves Complete Sweep of Marlins and Advance to NLCS

The Atlanta Braves made quick work of the Miami Marlins in the NLDS sweeping them three games to none and advancing to the NLCS.

While the Atlanta Braves might have been heavy favorites over the Miami Marlins coming into this series, I don’t think you’ll find any Braves fan who was overly confident.

And after the Marlins took a 4-1 lead over Max Fried in game one of this series there were a lot of fans who suddenly felt sick.

But that was as close as the Marlins would get to beating the Braves in this series at Atlanta outscored them 17-1 after they had that 4-1 lead and sent them packing — and sent the Braves to the NLCS for the first time since 2001.

And yes, the offense certainly was on full display in games one and three, but it was the pitching that once again carried them in this postseason.

Fried certainly didn’t have his best stuff in game one, but the bullpen held the Marlins to just one run over 5 innings. And then in game two Ian Anderson and the bullpen shutout Miami.

That was followed up by a gutsy performance from Kyle Wright in his postseason debut when he threw 6 shutout innings and the bullpen completed the shutout.

It’s crazy to think when we entered this postseason how worried everyone was about the starting pitching and they’ve been fantastic.

Granted, the Reds and the Marlins didn’t supply the most potent offenses in baseball this year, but what this pitching staff has done is still really impressive.

Travis d’Arnaud still might be the MVP of this division series as he continues to stay red hot at the plate.

The Braves are most likely going to be facing the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship series that is scheduled to start on Monday.

That will be a much biggest test for the Braves, but with the way they’re pitching and hitting right now I have a lot more confidence in them taking down the Dodgers right now than I did even two weeks ago.