The Atlanta Braves had themselves a terrible day on Tuesday. After coming within five outs of taking a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Dodgers in the NLCS, the Braves saw that lead slip away when Cody Bellinger tied the game with a three-run home run in the eighth inning.
The Dodgers went on to win, 6-5. And while the Braves will have little time to search for answers about that Game 3 collapse, the more superstitious fans among us know exactly what happened:
Charles Barkley guaranteed! a Braves sweep.
As TNT’s Inside the NBA was gearing up for the NBA season-opening broadcast, Ernie Johnson provided a score update for the NLCS over on TBS. It was 4-2 Braves in the fourth inning, and Barkley had heard enough. A sweep! Braves!
“The Braves are gonna sweep the Dodgers!” -Charles Barkley during the 4th inning of today’s game pic.twitter.com/bNKsaxEaLe
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) October 20, 2021
Barkley shouted, “The Braves are gonna sweep the Dodgers!”
Again, it was just the fourth inning. It was just a two-run lead, and Barkley was already calling it a series. Of course, he wasn’t alone in thinking that the Dodgers were finished. At the end of the seventh inning, the TBS broadcast showed the mass exodus of Dodgers fans in the Dodger Stadium parking lot.
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) October 20, 2021
These fans were leaving a three-run game early … in the playoffs … against an Atlanta team. That’s just madness.
Despite the loss, Barkley went on to guarantee! a Braves series win. Congratulations on the pennant, Los Angeles.
