LOS ANGELES — So much for the Los Angeles Dodgers ruining baseball. The Toronto Blue Jays are ruining the Dodgers. And the Dodgers are ruining themselves.
Their deficiencies are showing up everywhere — offensively, defensively, on the mound. And if they fail to become the first back-to-back World Series champions since the 1998 to 2000 New York Yankees, it will be fair to ask when their chances will be this good again.
The Dodgers’ position player group is aging. They entered the postseason with all four of their top starting pitchers healthy, a rarity for a team and sport frequently overrun by pitching injuries. Andrew Friedman and Co. can go buy more players — they always do. But they also will be stuck with some of the players they have.
The World Series is not over, but after their 6-1 loss to the Blue Jays on Wednesday night, the Dodgers trail three games to two with the Series heading back to Toronto. Of the 31 teams that previously faced that deficit in the Series, only eight came back to win, according to STATS Perform. But that list includes two teams from the previous decade, the 2016 Chicago Cubs and 2019 Washington Nationals.
Are the Dodgers capable of managing the same feat? With a payroll of nearly $400 million, they had better be, no?
Last season, the Dodgers faced elimination in the best-of-five Division Series against the San Diego Padres, and began their comeback from a two games to one deficit by winning a bullpen game on the road. This team, as outfielder Kiké Hernández said, is more talented than that one. But it doesn’t mean it’s as good.
Think about it: If not for historic performances by right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 and designated hitter Shohei Ohtani in Game 3, the Dodgers might not have a win in this series.
Yamamoto, the first pitcher to throw back-to-back complete games in the postseason since Curt Schilling delivered three straight in 2001, gives the Dodgers an excellent chance of winning Game 6. If it happens, Game 7, as always, will be a toss-up. But as one Dodger after another pointed out in almost metronomic fashion Wednesday night, the team needs to hit.
Jays rookie right-hander Trey Yesavage unfurled a performance for the ages in Game 5, befuddling the Dodgers with his split-fingered fastball and slider, becoming the first rookie to strike out 12 in a World Series game. But since beating the Cincinnati Reds in the Wild Card Series, the Dodgers are batting .214 with a .666 OPS against the Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers and Blue Jays. This, from a team that finished second only to the Yankees during the regular season in runs scored, albeit while going through occasional stretches as curious as this one.
Some of the Dodgers’ offensive problems, perhaps, are attributable to bad luck. Their batting average on balls in play in the past three series is .265, 13 points below the league average in the postseason, while the Blue Jays’ playoff BABIP is .305. But the Dodgers also are striking out at a much higher rate (25 percent) than the Blue Jays (16) over those periods, and hitting fewer home runs.
“It seems like at-bats are snowballing on us right now,” Kiké Hernández said. “We’re getting pitches to hit, we’re missing them, and we’re expanding the zone with two strikes.”
Manager Dave Roberts changed his lineup for Game 5, replacing Andy Pages (4-for-50) in the outfield with Alex Call and — more significantly — moving catcher Will Smith up to the No. 2 spot while dropping slumping shortstop Mookie Betts to third. It was the first time since Sept. 2021 that Betts batted lower than second. But the changes made little difference, in part because Yesavage was so good. Betts, after going 0-for-4, is batting .164 with a .476 OPS since the wild-card round.
“I’ve just been terrible,” he said, accurately.
The Dodgers have much to fix for Game 6 and beyond. (Luke Hales / Getty Images)
Roberts said he wasn’t sure what he would do with his lineup for Game 6 against Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman, but going forward here’s the scary part: Among the Dodgers’ hitters signed beyond this season, first baseman Freddie Freeman is 36, third baseman Max Muncy 35, Kiké Hernández 34, outfielder Teoscar Hernández and Betts 33. Freeman, in particular, was quite productive during the regular season. But even he is not what he was in his prime.
The Dodgers had advantageous pitching matchups in the past two games but lost both because they scored a combined three runs. Left-hander Blake Snell gave up two homers on his first three pitches in Game 5, but his pitching line turned ugly — 6 2/3 innings, five earned runs — after reliever Edgardo Henriquez allowed two inherited runners to score. Roberts said Snell pitched “a heck of a game.”
The Dodgers’ bullpen was gallant in Game 3, pitching 11 scoreless innings to end the 18-inning marathon. But left-hander Tanner Scott and righty Kirby Yates, two relievers the Dodgers signed for a combined $85 million last offseason, did not make the playoff roster. A third free-agent signee, righty Blake Treinen for $22 million, hasn’t been the same since getting used hard in last year’s postseason.
Another key reliever from the 2024 champions, righty Evan Phillips, required Tommy John surgery. Yet another, lefty Alex Vesia, was unavailable for this series due to a family emergency. And the lone reliever the Dodgers acquired at the deadline, righty Brock Stewart, pitched only four times before going on the injured list with a shoulder strain.
The Dodgers’ rotation ERA in the postseason is 2.54. The bullpen ERA is 4.56. The team overall is 11-4, yet you wouldn’t know it from watching this series. The contrast between these teams isn’t just noticeable offensively. The Dodgers are inadequate defensively, too.
Consider two plays in right field from Game 5. Leading off the Jays’ fourth, Daulton Varsho lofted a 75.6 mph floater down the line that Teoscar Hernández played into a triple, leading to Toronto’s third run. And leading off the Dodgers’ sixth, Ohtani hit a 117.3 mph rocket that was caught by Addison Barger, who laid out to make a diving backhand grab.
The Dodgers also threw three wild pitches — two by Snell, one by Henriquez — in the Jays’ two-run seventh. By then, Dodger Stadium was funereal. Clayton Kershaw was probably never going to pitch, but his final home game before he retires could have been, should have been, so much more.
Before the season, there was talk of the Dodgers winning a record 120 games. It turned out they won only 93, one fewer than the Blue Jays, costing them homefield advantage in this Series. Now they must deal with the consequences — the need to win two games in Toronto, where Jays fans are eagerly and loudly anticipating the team’s first World Series title since 1993.
“We trust each other. We believe we’re the best team in baseball,” Smith said of his team. “We’ve had our backs against the wall a lot this year, fighting through injuries, fighting through expectations and all that. This is a tough group. I’ve got no problem going in there and winning two games, and we’ll be ready for that.”
Remember what Roberts said after the National League Championship Series? “Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball.” The Dodgers need two straight to avoid not only elimination, but also their own ruination. Not exactly what they had in mind.
First Appeared on
Source link
