Morning Mound Visit: Braves have another disastrous first inning

In 2019, the Atlanta Braves were eliminated after Mike Foltynewicz and friends gave up 10 runs in the first inning of Game 5 of the NLDS. Last night, Kyle Wright and co. outdid them. The Dodgers put up a postseason record 11 runs before the Braves got to take their first swings.

Sarah Langs pointed out that the Braves are the first team in postseason history to allow multiple 10+ run innings and they are the only team to give up 10 runs or more in the first inning in the playoffs.

Globe Life Field has looked extremely pitcher-friendly this postseason, but the Dodgers managed to hit three homers in the first inning plus a fourth in the second. Yesterday, Devan Fink argued that we were overreacting to small sample and that the long outs could simply be a product of better defensive positioning.

The 11-run first inning didn’t doom the Braves’ season this time, but if you believe in momentum, it swung it in favor of Los Angeles who had been struggling to get their bats going in the first 15 innings of this series. They’ll still need to take three out of the next four to go on, but if there’s any team that can do that, it’s the Dodgers.

James LeDoux | Baseball IQ: We largely recognize that “hot” or “cold” hitters will eventually revert back to their mean performance, but players keep getting hot or going cold. Is there any statistical significance to the hot hand effect?

Russell Carleton | Baseball Prospectus $: In the third installment of “Confessions of a Fake GM,” Russell Carleton shuffles minor leaguers while the big league club gets off to a good start.

Michael Baumann | The Ringer: The Dodgers were supposed to be the grinder that other teams ran into but Los Angeles has seemingly met its match in Atlanta. After not losing a season series in 2020, the Dodgers are still in a hole despite the drubbing last night.

Quintin Smith | People Make Games: If you, like me, have been keeping Blaseball at arm’s length because you’re worried it’s going to consume your life, this video by People Make Games will convince you to simply give in to the siren song of Jaylen Hotdogfingers.