ARLINGTON — Postseason baseball amid a pandemic is proving to be as unusual as it sounds. The Atlanta Braves, the franchise that never won three postseason games in a row for 18 years, suddenly can’t lose. Their closer has caught more home runs this year than he has allowed. Their 22-year-old rookie pitcher is the second coming of Christy Mathewson. Their starting center fielder in National League Championship Series Game 2 never had started a big league game in center field nor knocked in a run.
But what happened to the Dodgers in the fifth inning of what became an 8–7 Atlanta win Tuesday defined how the rules of engagement this October are unlike anything else.