If it goes that far, it might not be such good news for Los Angeles. There have been five playoffs in NL history, and the Dodgers have been involved in every one. They've lost four times.

They were swept in a best-of-three by St. Louis in 1946, and lost to the New York Giants in 1951 on Thomson's ninth-inning shot in the deciding third game.

It was the same thing in 1962, when they lost to San Francisco in a best-of-three, and in 1980--the only time an NL division was tied at the end--Houston won a one-game playoff in Los Angeles.

The only time the Dodgers won was in 1959, when they stopped the two-time champion Milwaukee Braves in a two-game sweep.

"I think even LA felt it was going to come down to the last weekend or the last day," said Braves pitcher Tom Glavine, the only 20-game winner in the major leagues.

"We feel pretty good about it. Now let's see if we can get a little bit of help."

Lasorda Becomes A Believer

Perhaps the Dodgers did feel like it would go until the final days. But they probably didn't think they would be racing against Atlanta.

Early in the season, the Dodgers thought the main competition would come from the World Series champion Cincinnati Reds. It wasn't until mid-July that Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda told his team in a pregame meeting that the Braves were to be believed.

Yesterday, a day for baseball to catch its breath, both the Braves and Dodgers rested. Several of the Braves played golf.

"It's just a regular day off for us," said pitcher John Smoltz, scheduled to pitch Tomorrow. "There's 10 of us and we're having a little tournament like we always do."

Avery, Charlie Leibrandt and Alejandro Pena were among the pitchers who played.