The Dodgers will try to take a two-games-to-none lead in their National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves Sunday at Dodger Stadium after a 5-3 victory in Game 1.

In postseason history, teams taking a 2-0 lead in a best-of-5 series have gone on to win that series 83 of 93 times, 89.2%, according to Major League Baseball.

Left-hander Blake Snell will pitch for the Dodgers. The Braves have not announced their starter.

“If (Chris Sale) felt great tonight, that’s probably our answer,” Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said in his postgame news conference Saturday. “There’s a chance we may wait until the morning to see how he wakes up.”

Sale pitched the final 1 1/3 innings of Atlanta’s 6-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies Thursday, throwing 21 pitches, in the decisive third game of its National League Wild-Card Series. Sale’s most recent start was Tuesday when he allowed three runs and four hits in 6 1/3 innings in a 5-3 victory where he did not figure in the decision.

Sale’s 2.16 regular-season ERA was the third-lowest in Major League Baseball and second-lowest in the National League. His 200 strikeouts tied for fourth in the National League and 11th in Major League Baseball.

Snell was 4-1 with a 1.90 ERA in the regular season, with the Dodgers posting a 6-3 record in his starts. The two-time Cy Young Award winner had two stints on the injured list — March 22 to May 9 because of left shoulder fatigue and May 15 to Aug. 11 because of loose bodies in his left elbow which required surgery to remove.

Snell had the worst of his nine 2026 regular-season starts in his only appearance against the Braves, allowing five runs, four earned, and six hits in three innings in a 7-2 loss May 9. He was placed on the injured list six days later.

Snell is 0-3 lifetime against Atlanta in six starts with a 3.49 ERA.

ESPN Analytics’ Matchup Predictor gives the Dodgers a 66.7% chance of winning and the Braves a 33.3% chance.

The 5:03 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time game will be televised on FS1, streamed on Fox One, broadcast in English by KLAC-AM (570) and in Spanish by KTNQ-AM (1020).

After losing five of six games to the Braves in the regular season, the Dodgers never trailed in their postseason opener as Tarik Skubal and two relievers limited Atlanta to two hits over the first eight innings and Teoscar Hernández and Kyle Tucker hit two-run home runs.

Skubal allowed a single to leadoff batter Drake Baldwin, retired the next 15 batters before allowing a home run to Sean Murphy on a 1-2 sinker leading off the sixth.

The 2024 and 2025 American League Cy Young Award winner struck out seven and walked two, both in the sixth inning, and allowed two hits, in six innings for the victory.

“I thought Tarik was fantastic,” Dodger manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought the fastball was really good. Murphy clipped him, ball above the zone with two strikes, but I thought the change-up today was really effective, kept them off balance. Slider was good.

“To go through six in these conditions I thought was fantastic, and I thought the bullpen did a fine job.”

Skubal said catcher Will Smith “did a great job back there calling the game, kind of getting me back in the zone, corralling some misses, and sticking with some pitches that I wasn’t executing early. So I think he did a great job just getting me in the zone and reading swings and understanding stuff.”

Skubal also said second baseman Tommy Edman’s defense “was outstanding.”

“Just to keep those balls in the infield is one thing, but to get outs, that’s huge,” Skubal said.

The temperature was 100 degrees when the game began at 1:08 p.m., according to Major League Baseball.

“It’s hot,” said Skubal, a graduate of Kingman Academy of Learning in Kingman, Arizona. “No denying that. They’re playing in the same conditions we are. It doesn’t really matter. It shouldn’t really impact how you are mentally or how it’s going to impact how you pitch. Just go out there and play baseball and try to drink water. That’s really it.”

Hernández hit a 1-1 cutter from Victor Mederos an estimated 431 feet over the left-center field fence with one out in the fourth to open the scoring

The Dodgers increased their lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the sixth on Tucker’s home run into the Atlanta bullpen in right field.

Max Muncy hit a solo home run two batters later for the Dodgers’ final run in front of a crowd announced at 50,194 at Dodger Stadium.

After Brock Stewart pitched a perfect seventh inning and Alex Vesia retired all three batters he faced in the eighth, Tanner Scott allowed a single to Ronald Acuña Jr., the first batter he faced, and a home run to Ozzie Albies on the next pitch.

Scott retired the next two batters he faced on ground outs, then was relieved by Evan Phillips, who walked Mauricio Dubón on eight pitches. Phillips got ahead of Austin Riley 0-2. After fouling off the next pitch, Phillips induced Riley to ground out to shortstop Mookie Betts to end the game.

Phillips was credited with the save.

Mederos, the second of four Atlanta pitchers, was charged with the loss.

The Dodgers out-hit the Braves 8-4, with Hernández and Tucker each getting two hits.