4 takeaways from Braves' sweep of Dodgers include Atlanta's Chris Sale flexing and L.A.'s continued tinkering of rotation

Since then, however, clashes between the two powerhouses have been limited to the regular season. That could change this year. Atlanta's resurgence has restored a familiar picture atop the National League standings, with both the Braves and Dodgers jockeying with the Brewers for the top overall seed and the two byes surpassing the wild-card round. A potential preview of another epic postseason showdown unfolded this week at Truist Park, with the Braves sweeping the Dodgers , winning all three games by one run apiece. Right-hander Bryce Elder turned in a quality start before Ozzie Albies drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as Atlanta took the series opener 4-3. Another back-and-forth nailbiter ensued Wednesday that also fell in the Braves' favor, this time in walk-off fashion, 6-5. The series concluded Thursday with a gem of a pitchers' duel between Chris Sale and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Sale stole the show by throwing a spectacular complete game shutout to preserve a 1-0 victory — with the lone run coming on Drake Baldwin solo homer on Yamamoto's first pitch of the game — and nail down the sweep for the Braves.

If you needed any additional evidence that this week's series had a little extra juice, look no further than 37-year-old Chris Sale unleashing his hardest recorded pitch in more than eight years : a 100.1 mph heater to Shohei Ohtani in the top of the third inning that Ohtani fouled off before succumbing to Sale's signature slider a couple pitches later.

Two innings later, Sale again brought some bonus heat against Ohtani, this time 99.6 mph — also harder than any other pitch he had thrown as a Brave before Thursday — that blazed past Ohtani's vicious hack above the zone for his second strikeout of the night. These were just two of Sale's 11 punchouts in the outing, a complete-game masterclass on 109 pitches that featured five hits and zero walks. It was Sale's first complete game since June 5, 2019.