3 reasons Braves can win the World Series, 1 reason they won’t
By Josh Wilson
Home field advantage
Home field advantage is an obvious reason why a team might perform at a high level in the postseason, but one key team they needed to get home field over was the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Braves figure to be matched up against the Dodgers at some point this postseason, and that will be an intense travel schedule for the two teams going coast-to-coast.
That'll be a key opponent especially because the Dodgers have an .816 OPS against the current field of playoff teams, the Braves are second to that against the same opponents at .798 (the Braves beat them in slug, though).
Whichever team has the home field advantage may very well come out of that one alive. Advantage: Braves.
Of seven games against the Dodgers, the Braves have won four. Remarkably, three of those have come on the road.
The Championship series, the earliest the Braves can field the Dodgers, is a 2-3-2 format, where the Braves will get the first two and last two. That bodes well for the advantage team to get off to a hot start and also have three straight road games, which may give them the chance to better adjust to the road environment for the fourth and fifth game of the series.