Following back-to-back walk-off wins by the Atlanta Braves at home in the National League Championship Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers found a way to take two out of three games in Atlanta. Facing elimination down three games to one Thursday night, Dodgers’ utility player Chris Taylor provided the much-needed spark to his team’s offense and morale, becoming the first player in major league history to hit three home runs in a postseason elimination game. As the series shifts back to Atlanta for a decisive game six, where the hometown Braves will try to win their first National League Pennant since 1999, some writers feel the momentum has shifted towards the Dodgers, who overcame an analogous three games to one deficit in the NLCS last year against the Braves, and ultimately went on to win the World Series.
On Friday morning, “The Morning Show with John and Hugh” on 92.9 The Game in Atlanta discussed the plethora of writers who have deemed the Dodgers to have the momentum heading into game six of the NLCS.
“Another shot at ESPN if I can — this is the website, ESPN.com,” said John Fricke, co-host of the morning drive program and former anchor at CNN. “The headline this morning: ‘Against all odds — here come the Dodgers.’ What odds are the Dodgers overcoming here? [They] have so much money that [they could] go out at the [trade deadline] and spend $200 million to get Max Scherzer and Trea Turner. There are no odds. [They] just buy stuff.”
The story, which was written by ESPN Senior Writer Tim Keown, was shared on Twitter by ESPN.com Senior Writer and Sunday Night Baseball Reporter Buster Olney, who happens to have a whopping 1.3 million followers. The Tweet highlighting the story was flooded with comments, including one suggesting ESPN and Major League Baseball are hoping the Dodgers come back and win the series.
“I guess [ESPN] was just talking about how good the Braves are,” suggested former Pro Bowl NFL defensive end and show co-host Hugh Douglas. “It’s definitely hard to say.”
Later on in the program, the show referenced Dylan Hernandez, who serves as a sports columnist at The Los Angeles Times, who recently wrote an article with the headline, “Unpredictable series swings back with L.A. now in control.” Similar to the ESPN headline, this narrative was something that “The Morning Show with John and Hugh” were clearly not adopting as bon-a-fide fact.
“Is that really true?,” questioned Fricke. “You’re down [three games to two] coming to Atlanta.”
Hugh added to the conversation: “Especially since you haven’t won one [game] in Atlanta — I don’t think that’s the case.”
Before the article was released, though, Hernandez sent out a Tweet questioning if “the Waffle House takes reservations?,” purportedly referencing his impending trip back to Atlanta for game six Saturday night. The morning show hosts then made Hernandez an offer to him live on-the-air.
“First off, it’s not ‘The Waffle House;’ it’s just ‘Waffle House,’” said Fricke. “No they don’t take reservations and no, you’re not welcome; get the hell out of town.”
More congenial in his tone, Hugh suggested he and John Fricke treat Hernandez to a meal at the ubiquitous Atlanta-based restaurant chain, which recently tweeted “Go @Braves” in support of the team’s quest for a World Series berth.
“We should all go to Waffle House together,” suggested Hugh. “If you live here, you don’t have to worry about reservations because we got you.”
Agitation abound, Fricke is irked by writers doubting the Braves’ ability to close out the series, and is calling on sports columnists to stop putting ‘spin’ on their stories to generate more intriguing headlines.
“We’ve been putting up with constant spin on all of this,” said John Fricke, “and it just makes you roll your eyes.”
The Atlanta Braves face the Los Angeles Dodgers in game six of the National League Championship Series at 5:08 p.m. E.S.T. on TBS, with Brian Anderson on the play-by-play, former major leaguers Ron Darling and Jeff Franceour serving as analysts and Lauren Shehadi reporting on the action on the field. The Dodgers’ Max Scherzer is set to face off against Atlanta’s Ian Anderson in what will be, at the most, the series’ penultimate contest. The highly-anticipated matchup will also be available to listen nationally on ESPN Radio with Jon “Boog” Sciambi and Jessica Mendoza behind the mics, and locally on AM 570 LA Sports and across the Atlanta Braves Radio Network.
