The No. 2 versus No. 3 seed matchup in the National League division series features two heavyweight fighters with immense offensive firepower in the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves.
These lineups feature players on legitimate Hall of Fame tracks, with baseball legends like Shohei Ohtani, to decade-long offensive stalwarts in Matt Olson. Considering both teams ranked in the top 10 throughout major league baseball in runs scored this season per FanGraphs, pitching and defense should be a bigger deciding factor between both teams.
Though many players are set to make series-altering impacts, these two players stand alone as the biggest x-factors for their teams respectively.
X-Factor No. 1: Shohei Ohtani
While Ohtani won’t be pitching in this series, the two-way phenom has been plagued by injuries down the stretch, missing a total of seventeen games in September, as he spent time on the injured list with knee soreness and biceps discomfort. Despite that, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters that the Iwate, Japan, native will be in the lineup for game one of the club’s NLDS matchup against Atlanta, but won’t be in 100 percent health.
“Most players that are performing now are not at 100%,” Roberts told reports on Friday via The Sporting Tribune.
While that includes Ohtani, the future Hall of Famer said, via interpreter Will Ireton, “I do feel like my swing is in a better place, feels smooth, and just a little tweaks here and there, and I’ll be ready for tomorrow.”
Independent of his lingering health issues, Ohtani has not necessarily been his best self at the plate all season long. The former Angel has slashed .275/.377/.512 with a 139 wRC+ and a 13.1 walk percentage across 618 plate appearances this season. He’s still hitting at an all-star level — just not quite the level he’s spoiled us into anticipating.
The injuries will surely impact his swing to some degree, and Ohtani will surely be one of the series’ biggest x-factors, as a great deal hinges on how he looks in game 1.
Article Continues BelowX-Factor No. 2: Tyler Mahle
The Braves acquired Mahle at the 2026 MLB trade deadline, and he has been everything that the club could have wanted and more. In 54.1 innings pitched across nine starts with Atlanta, the 32-year-old has posted a 1.99 ERA while striking out 22.9 percent of hitters and walking just 4.3 percent, per FanGraphs.
Tyler Mahle, Filthy Splitters. 😷 pic.twitter.com/Dsu2wXNkUz
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 30, 2026
In his lone playoff start thus far, Mahle delivered for the Braves, going seven strong innings, allowing just one run, striking out six hitters. The right-hander almost did not even make his start due to an abdomen pull he suffered during warmups
“We had a scare before the game — He felt an abdominal pull,” said Braves’ first-year manager Walt Weiss via SB Nation. “We didn't know if he was going to make the start. …He ended up working through it, and it got better as the game went on. But we were scrambling early on.”
If the Braves plan to be competitive in this series and matchup against the Dodgers' four-headed monster that arguably includes four top-20 starting pitchers, they’ll need to step up in that department as well. While Braves ace Chris Sale will be expected to make two starts throughout the series, it is Mahle who could be the great equalizer.