It's easy to forget now that Max Fried seemed like an afterthought in the Atlanta Braves organization just two years ago. He was a former first-round pick who had been acquired by a previous administration and promoted and demoted repeatedly before being relegated to four relief appearances in September 2018. Kyle Wright was given many opportunities to pin down a spot in the rotation throughout 2019 and in the first part of the truncated 2020 season and had failed to seize control, his career trajectory beginning to look like that of a first-round bust.
But Alex Anthopoulos, the Braves' general manager, handled the two pitchers and others deliberately, having made his own share of mistakes in his past, experience that he has drawn on repeatedly since taking over Atlanta in November 2017. Because of the Dodgers' preeminence in the National League in recent seasons and stars such as Clayton Kershaw, Cody Bellinger and Mookie Betts, L.A. is regarded as the favorite over the Braves in the NL Championship Series -- and yet rival evaluators view the Braves as extremely dangerous, because of an incredibly deep bullpen and everyday lineup, and because of a rotation stabilized by the improvement of Fried and Wright.