ATLANTA — The Astros have the best offense in baseball. They got on base more frequently than any other club this season; they ranked last in strikeout rate and first in offensive WAR. There were only four games all season in which they recorded two hits or fewer. If you’d like to try out-strategizing them rather than overpowering them, good luck, as they alternate right- and left-handers for the first seven hitters in the lineup—no easy matchup playing here. To quiet these hitters is to shut down one of baseball’s most fearsome, versatile and balanced groups.
But the Braves did just that in Game 3.