ATLANTA (NewsNation Now) — You might think a sense of dread settled over the Atlanta Braves’ bench Wednesday when they realized they were up 3-1 on the Dodgers in the NLCS. Baseball players are a superstitious bunch, and they likely all grabbed whatever good luck charms were handy and started working them.

They’ve been here before, you see. Last year, in fact. The Braves went up on the Dodgers 3-1 in the 2020 NLCS only to watch everything slip away, with the Dodgers taking the last three wins before going on the best the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2 in the World Series.

Thursday night, it was never really in doubt. Chris Taylor, known for his elimination-game heroics, pounded out a record-tying three home runs to lead the Boys in Blue to an 11-2 blowout win. The Dodgers have now won four games this postseason when their backs were against the wall, and a total of seven if you stretch the count back to last year.

Now, however, the series goes back to Atlanta for the final two games. Braves fans are known to be a loud bunch, but that sort of thing doesn’t matter as much in baseball as it does in football, since there’s no quarterback trying to be heard over the crowd noise. Also, the Braves home record during the regular season was only 42-38, with a road record of 46-35, which suggests they might wish they could stay in Los Angeles.

The series resumes Saturday, and by Monday we’ll know which National League team will be playing in the World Series.