After climbing back in the NL East and taking over the division lead in the last couple months of the season, the Atlanta Braves cruised relatively smoothly through the Division Series, taking three out of four against the Milwaukee Brewers. While the Brewers did have the better regular season record by five games, the Braves matched up well against Milwaukee’s stellar starting pitching, taking advantage of a slightly depleted bullpen.
This year’s team was in a much better place than they were last year coming into the NLDS. The Braves had to get through a tough Cincinnati team last year in the expanded Wild Card round, and then had to fly to Houston to play Miami in the division series, which was the first series Miami ever lost in the playoffs in their history.