The Only MLB Team Good Enough to Beat the Dodgers

Here come the Los Angeles Dodgers. They have won 15 out of 19, thus increasing their lead in the NL West and reasserting that they're for real about achieving a World Series three-peat.

And yet, they still don't have the best record in MLB.

The Dodgers are 39-22, but the Atlanta Braves are 41-20 and you might call their success metronomic. They have yet to lose more than three games in a row, whereas they've had nine win streaks of at least three games.

There's admittedly an "Oh, you're still here?" vibe to this Braves team. They established powerhouse creds by winning the World Series in 2021 and 100-plus games in 2022 and 2023, but then got a bad case of the blahs in 2024 and 2025. Heck, they even had people thinking of a Ronald Acuña Jr. trade at one point.

Yet inasmuch as the best team in MLB needs defending, these Braves really are that good. Good enough, in fact, to be the best hope of denying the Dodgers their three-peat.

How, Exactly, Does One Beat the Dodgers?

The Point: You have to out-hit and out-pitch them, obviously.

For all the success they've had in the last decade, the Dodgers really are outdoing themselves in 2026. Their +127 run differential says it all, as it's only the third time in their L.A. era that they've done that through 61 games.

Conveniently, how they're doing this doubles as a blueprint for how to beat them.

Step 1: Hang with Their Offense

Yeah, easier said than done. Even without Mookie Betts or Kyle Tucker in MVP-caliber form in support of Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers are getting so much from Max Muncy and Andy Pages that it doesn't matter:

• Runs/Game: 5.26 (2nd)
• HR: 84 (3rd)
• AVG: .262 (1st)
• OBP: .343 (1st)
• SLG: .444 (1st)

It's worth circling the home runs as an especially dangerous weapon. The Toronto Blue Jays learned that the hard way in last year's World Series, as the Dodgers winning the home run battle (11 to 8) ultimately mattered more than Toronto winning the scoring battle (34 to 26).

Step 2: Hang with Their Bullpen

The Dodgers "only" have the sixth-best bullpen ERA at 3.26, but run value tells a different story. So does recent history, as Dodgers relievers have a stellar 2.61 ERA over the last 30 days.

Mind you, this is with nothing from offseason signee and three-time All-Star Edwin Díaz. If he makes a full recovery from surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow, watch out.

Step 3: Hang with Their Aces

The Dodgers have at least two of these, as Ohtani (0.87 ERA) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.86 ERA) are as good as anyone on any given day. And come the end of the year, they might have three more aces.

Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow are No. 1-caliber starters when healthy, and Roki Sasaki has lately been living up to his No. 1-caliber potential. He posted a 3.18 ERA with a 3.33 FIP in May.

Here's Why the Braves Can Do It

The Point: They have the offense and the bullpen for it.

Even if they don't quite have the Dodgers' run differential, the Braves are not overachieving. They have scored 110 more runs than they have allowed, so their record should hypothetically be more like 42-19.

Between this and how they mostly resemble the Dodgers, the Braves are the ideal team to put that blueprint into action.

Part 1: Their Offense Can Hang

This isn't merely a matter of the Braves being as good at scoring runs at 5.25 per game. Nor is it even about how Acuña has recently rejoined Matt Olson, Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies among Atlanta's cavalcade of stars.

As was the case when they had a season worthy of the '27 Yankees in 2023, it's also about how overwhelming it is to face Atlanta's offense. It has the sixth-lowest strikeout rate and the second-most home runs, surpassing the Dodgers in both arenas.

Part 2: Their Bullpen Can Hang

Atlanta's bullpen ranks first with a 2.99 ERA (i.e., check) and with a 1.08 WHIP (i.e., mate). Perhaps this doesn't need to be more complicated than that.

Still, what the heck. Raisel Iglesias, Robert Suarez and Dylan Lee have a combined 0.99 ERA and 1.71 FIP, and they don't even have the best stuff in Atlanta's pen. With a max speed of 100.1 mph and a nasty slider, Didier Fuentes does.

Part 3: Chris Sale Can Hang, At Least

On the whole, Atlanta's starting pitching is not as good as the Dodgers'. And that's even with Bryce Elder rocking a 2.63 ERA despite bottom-of-the-barrel stuff, which doesn't seem likely to last.

And yet, does one dare say Chris Sale is the best starter on either team? Yes, one does. He has a 2.38 ERA and 2.43 FIP as a Brave, with a Pitching+ score that ranks behind only Jacob Misiorowski and Jacob deGrom this year.

May the Team with the Best Trade Deadline Win

The Point: How these teams act could have the final say.

Of course, to look at these teams strictly in their current forms is to ignore how they might change.

Between now and the August 3 trade deadline, the Braves could get slugging catcher Drake Baldwin back off the IL, plus potentially pitchers Hurston Waldrep and Spencer Schwellenbach. In addition to Glasnow, Snell and Díaz, the Dodgers stand to get back Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman. So assuming Betts and Tucker find their respective grooves, these scales tip in favor of LA.

Meanwhile, everyone and their uncle is wondering if the Dodgers are the team to beat for back-to-back AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. They don't need him, but they could leverage MLB's No. 1 farm system to get him anyway.

Even so, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com threw the Braves into a speculative Skubal stew as well. If not him, Joe Ryan, Sandy Alcantara or Robbie Ray could be the savior their rotation needs.

It may come down to intent. Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos is already talking a big game about the trade deadline. That's in stark contrast to his Dodgers counterpart, Andrew Friedman, who approaches the trade deadline much like Bartleby the scrivener does with work: He would prefer not to.

As is, there's a 15.5-point gap between these two teams in FanGraphs' odds for the National League pennant. That's pretty big, but it's a lot smaller than the 23-point deficit the Braves had to the Dodgers on Opening Day.

Odds are not a gospel. Or a promise. But if these odds are nothing else, they're an invitation for the Braves to go all-in on beating the Dodgers in real life.

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.