Since 2019, the National League Pennant Winner (in a full season) has been the team with the Worst Record that was in the playoffs. Let that sink in for a minute. What does that mean? Let’s look back at the records:
2019 – Washington Nationals – 93-69
2020 – Dodgers won in the COVID Partial Season while playing the most rounds ever!
2021 – Atlanta Braves -88-73
2022– Philadelphia Phillies – 87-75
2023 – Arizona Diamondbacks – 84-78
Many say the playoffs are a “crapshoot,” and they may be partially right, but it seems to me that having to play competitive games until the end of the season also impacts a team’s readiness to play in the playoffs. The Dodgers clinched the NL West on September 16th of last season, which meant that they played over two weeks of games that meant nothing.
In 2022, the Dodgers clinched a playoff spot on September 12th. It was September 14th in 2021 and 2019. In 2017 (the year the Astros cheated the Dodgers out of the Trophy), they clinched on September 13th, but there were fewer teams in the playoffs then… as compared to now.
In 2024, Andrew Friedman will celebrate his 10th season as the architect of Dodger Baseball. It is not arguable that this will be the best run EVER by a Dodger team in any ten-year period. The Dodgers have won exactly one World Championship in that time and should have won two. The only tear that has won more than one in that same period of time cheated their way to the win. Would I like to see the Dodgers win another World Series? Absolutely! However, you have to get to the playoffs first, and the Dodgers have EVERY YEAR under Friedman.
So, fans say that Friedman can’t build a team good enough to win. I think that is pure BS! If anything, he builds them too well, and having to sleepwalk at the end impacts their momentum. It makes no rhyme or reason to say that he can’t build a team that wins in the playoffs but can build a team that wins 100 games. No one has ever explained how that even makes sense to your dog!
Andrew is not perfect. I wish he were. He would have never traded Alverez or signed Thor. But he is not! He puts his pants on the same way you and I do, and he doesn’t wear a cape. The Asstros won two World Series by tanking for years and drafting high, and yet they have made a lot of mistakes with their first draft picks. Since 2010, ten of their top draft picks have not been impact MLB players. Now, a couple of recent ones may still make it, but their draft picks have not always been great. 50% it is… at best!
The Dodgers have drafted at the bottom of the first round for over ten years, and yet they have a Top 10 Farm System, so AF is doing something right. The Braves enter the 2024 season as 13-2 odds to win the World Series, while the Dodgers are second at 7-1 odds. The Dodgers will be in the mix again. No one could have predicted how badly the Dodgers rotation would be destroyed in 2023, and gutting the farm for three starters was not wise.
Andrew Friedman and his people have a plan… actually, multiple plans. I would love to see their War Room – I imagine wall after wall of evaluations, but most likely, it is digital. The Dodgers have a massive scouting and analytics department, and a lot goes into this process. It’s not perfect, but it’s as good as any team… probably better. Who and how the Dodgers acquire this Winter remains to be seen. I am still skeptical about Ohtani at over $400 Million, and I believe there is no way that the Dodgers will pay him a $500 Million Dollar Salary… but we shall see. We can guess as to what impact signing him will have on their finances, but I think they know the numbers – whatever they are. Stay tuned!
By the way, it will be interesting to see what the Dodgers do to “stay fresh and keep momentum” if they clinch early again next year. They have to make a change!
Discussion (12)
Disagree, not disagreeable
We had a house full of company yesterday, so I did not have time to weigh in. RC Dodger pointed out that AF inherited a 94-win team with some pretty good players and while that is true, the farm system was ranked #11 in 2014, but in 2015 it was #1. The biggest changes were some trades made initially and then infusing better talent evaluators and coaches throughout the system. In other words, he took the other regimes players and made them better.
That is one of the biggest differences to this day – the staff he has assembled is simply top-notch, which is why his GM and coaching tree is ever-growing. AF understands player development. Some say he does not “push” MiLB players hard enough… but maybe that is good!
Joe Espada will be the new Astros manager. Mike Shildt, Ryan Flaherty and Benji Gil all in the running for new Padres skipper. Although Nevin and Ross are also drawing interest. Matt Williams leaves the Padres and joins Melvin in San Francisco.
I think one thing fans really do not understand is how much some injuries affect players. You can go back in baseball history and see careers derailed by injury or illness. One of the most famous is Dizzy Dean. Dean was hit in the toe by a line drive off of the bat of Earl Averill in an All-Star game. Coming back before the toe was healed, he injured his arm. And back in those days, they did not have the kind of medicinal knowledge they have today. Ol Diz’s blazing fastball was gone. That happened in 1937 when Dean was just 27 years old. He won 16 games and lost 8 over the next three seasons and was done.
I have seen people complain about Koufax making the Hall with only 165 wins. Dean only had 150. He is also the last NL pitcher to win 30 games. Unlike Sandy, who was a first ballot guy, it took Dean 11 years to be voted in. It has happened to Dodger players too.
Pete Reiser, who had a penchant for playing all out all the time. He ran into outfield walls so often that he had 11 concussions in his career and was carried off of the field once with them believing he would die. He was a great hitter before the injuries. Karl Spooner who hurt his arm. His fastball was about as good as Sandy’s. Never was the same guy after he injured it in spring training.
Matt Kemp. I know, I hear all the time about how Matt Kemp was a cancer and all of that and his skills diminished after 2012. But him crashing into the wall at Coors Field changed his career trajectory tremendously. A couple of hammy strains and coming back too soon from the collision, robbed him of his speed, and in the second half, his power. He was not the same player after the shoulder surgery and struggled most of the 2013 season. He had a bounce back of sorts in 2014, getting some of his power back and raising his BA into the .280’s. But AF took over and traded him to the Padres. He regressed a little, probably upset about the trade, but still drove in100 for the Friars. In 2016 he got traded at mid-season to the Braves. But he hit 35 homers with his shoulder now healed and drove in 108. He had injury problems again in 17 and his production dropped. Kemps speed had diminished so he no longer could play CF every day. He was traded to the Dodgers as a salary dump in 18 and was not expected to make the team. But he surprised the hell out of everybody and had a fabulous spring. Kemp carried the Dodgers during the first half of 18, hitting 15 homers and driving in 60 and hitting .310. Inexplicably, Roberts curtailed his playing time in the second half. Kemp managed to finish with a .290 BA, 21 homers and 84 driven in. He also hit the Dodgers first homer in the 18-world series. It was his last hurrah in the majors. He was traded to the Reds after the season in another salary dump. He retired after a short stint with the Rockies in 2020.
He finished his career with 203 homers as an LA Dodger. That puts him 7th on the All-Time Dodger list and 4th in LA Dodger history. The latest of course is Bellinger. His shoulder was bothering him before the now famous high-shoulder bump with Kike. It got dislocated then. It did not affect his fielding, but he hit only .136 in the series with the Rays. He did have a homer and three runs driven in. Bellinger had off season surgery to repair his shoulder after the World Series. So that, combined with him breaking his leg when he fouled a ball off of it, meant 21 was basically a lost year for him. His stats reflected that. .169 average, 10 homers and 36 driven in. Bellinger more than made up for that in the playoffs. He was one of the few Dodgers who actually hit well. He went 1-2 and scored one of the three runs against the Cardinals in the Wild Card game. He was 4-15 against the Giants in the NLDS, but had two key hits in San Francisco, a double that drove in 2 runs in game 2 and the single in the 9th inning of game five driving in Turner with the winning run. He hit .412 against the Braves in the NLCS including a huge 3 run shot off of Luke Jackson in the 8th inning to tie game 3 and keep the Dodgers from being down 3-0 in the series. He hit .210 in 22. Raised his average 45 points, but he was striking out too much. His shoulder was still not fully healed.
So, the Dodgers non-tendered him and he signed with the Cubs. But now, two full years after the surgery, his shoulder is healed, and he looks more like the 2017 ROY player than he has the last two seasons prior. And he is going to get a large payday because of that. Patience. Something fans have little of. This year it will be two full seasons since Max was hurt. I believe Max is going to have a much better season than he has in a while.
Interesting fact about all of the lower-win wild card teams winning the NL pennant the last 4 full seasons.
The Dodgers were better than all 4 of those teams but lost disappointing playoff series.
Andrew Friedman is a very good GM, and the Dodgers are lucky to have him.
But he took over a team that had 94 wins, had won two straight NL West titles, led MLB with 3.8 million in attendance, and allowed to have the largest payroll in MLB his first 3 years. And his inherited roster was loaded with talent in MLB and in the minors.
He inherited a roster with these guys:
Kershaw, Greinke, Urias, Ryu, Beckett, Haren, Stripling, Jansen, Baez, and others.
Seager, Bellinger, JT, Joc, Verdugo, Kemp, Gonzalez, Puig, Hanley R, Ethier, Dee Gordon, Rojas, and others.
AF pretty much had to just keep his current players, draft reasonable prospects, and sign a few free agents and he would have one of the best teams in baseball for the last 10 years. He is very good, but let’s realize that he started on third base with the Dodgers.
so the strikeout rate is ok? the 2023 dodgers were a regular season monster as was the 2021 & 2022 teams. i guess i’m just saying the dodgers could stand some new faces . taylor is a uva grad. and i really like him. he’s had some big moments. barnes, that hit in the 2020 world series was his career moment. max always taking strikes right down the middle, not wholesale changes, just a little tuneup.
Should we be able to say that we should have won in 2017? Didn’t the cheatos do the same thing to the Yankees for AL title? We would have had to beat Yankees, not saying we couldn’t, just that we would have needed to.
I think the difference of our hitting against d-back pitchers reg season vs playoffs is they changed pitch patterns and threw off analytics
AF is fine. The manager needs to be better.
SOOOOO with all those .220 hitters in the lineup we won all those game the last few years. Then you might say, sure against a lot of crappy teams during the regular season. So I guess these guys have a harder time against pitchers in the playoffs who can throw strikes. But wait—We beat those Ariz pitchers during regular season. And non low average guys (Freddie and Mookie) didn’t hit. So the answer is …………….? Certainly winning fewer games during the regular season and coming in second place isn’t the answer.
realistic fans. don’t expect their team to win a championship every year. if the dodgers win the next ten world series what would we have to bitch about? the 88 dodgers were no where close to being as talented as the 2020 dodgers. but they had a fire this year’s team lacked. the last 3 playoffs have been so disappointing! i , like most dodger fans enjoyed the regular season ride. but something or someone was missing. i love sports! it is something that has been a huge part of my life since i was small. i listened to the am radio the nights the dodgers played on the east coast. phillies, pirates, cards, braves, mets all were available on am radio. didn’t get much tv until mid 70s. . but i have been a dodger fan my entire life! i loved the rams, until they moved, and a laker fan until lebron arrived. don’t hate the guy , just never a fan. i want a team that has the fight and fire for the playoffs!! i see that in Bryce Harper. quietly i see that in corey seager. i love mookie and freddie. i love will smith. max sometimes has a fire in his eyes. Puig was a dumbass! but he could ignite the dugout at times. no i don’t expect them to win every single year. i just believe we could use a little dynamite once in awhile.
Honestly, MLB needs to return to a 154 game season. The owners would want salaries adjusted accordingly. The players want less games, but not with less money. So that won’t happen.
They need less teams in the playoffs, not more. The regular season needs to mean more. Won’t happen. Manfred likes all the other teams keeping their fan bases involved and excited. Call it MLB’s version of equity.
Yes, the Dodgers have all the bells and whistles, they draft well, especially considering draft position, they develop their players and have all kinds of resources to build division champions.
I believe that Friedman thinks the recent playoff failures are more about more about odds than anything else. The Dodgers are going through a tough patch. But the ball will bounce back their way. Win the division, get in the playoffs, sooner or later you win it all. The pendulum will swing back. He may be right. Do this 10 times and the Dodgers will reach the Series, four or five times. They just have to continue doing the same thing. Winning the division, making the playoffs.
It’s all theory, of course, but basically sound. Of course, certain players can help make a difference in a given year. Being healthy, something they’ve had some trouble with at times can derail the best of plans. That’s where depth can help.
But looking forward, the Dodgers seem well positioned to go on a big run, especially when you consider the up and coming prospects who can impact a season.
What will the winter look like? A key trade, a couple of free agent signings. Good to go.
In the 50’s, the Dodgers went to the World Series 5 times. They won 2 World Series. One in Brooklyn and one in Los Angeles. One was with a team that had the same core for almost 8 years. Robinson, Campy, Snider, Reese, Furillo, Hodges were in there every day. All those guys except Furillo are Hall of Famers. Of those guys, Campy won 3 MVP’s, Furillo a batting title, Snider hit 40 or more homers 5 years in a row. Only Babe Ruth had a longer stretch, 7. Barry Bonds had five years in a row of 40 or more………after he started using PED’s. Sammy Sosa had 6…..after he used PEDs. Lou Gehrig never did it. Jimmie Foxx, Mantle, Mays, Aaron none did it. Hodges earned the first three gold gloves awarded and had seven years in a row where he drove in 100 or more runs. Reese was consistently one of their most clutch players. Left field and 3rd base were the two positions where most of the turnover was. Then with the Boys of summer fading, they won with a team made up of fringe guys and some very good pitching. Alston platooned almost every game. Hodges played in 124 games, Snider 126. Only Wally Moon, Jim Gilliam, Charlie Neal and Don Demeter played more than 139 games. Only Snider and Hodges hit more than 20 homers, Hodges, 25, Snider 23. Moon and Neal had 19, and Demeter had 18. Moon was the only hitter over .300 at .302. No 20 game winners, Big D was the ace and they won only 86 games tying the Braves. They then had to win a 2-game playoff. And they were crushed in the first game of the World Series. But they beat the White Sox winning LA’s first title. But the point is, did fans gripe when the Dodgers lost those series, or bemoan the defeat in the playoffs in 51 to the Giants? Nope. They were just happy to have the chance at the crown. Dodger fans now believe they should win all the time. Just not a realistic thing to want.
Friedman has done wonders over the years! regular season champs almost every year. the aaassstros have 2 world series titles, 1 by cheating. the dodgers have 1, which should be 2! it’s hard to find fault with what AF has done. i guess my biggest complaint is all the “smack their bat” hitters we have ! by that i mean taylor , barnes, muncy, outman. to many strikeouts in there. mookie and freddie absolutely disappeared in the playoffs! will smith came alive, but really not much from any one else. and i’m sorry, but to use austin barnes as a pinch hitter? there’s really no way to put all their failures in the playoffs on Friedman. but enough of the .220 hitters on this roster! i like marks trade ideas. i like burns over cease, but i like robert over yelich. do agree , not sure lux will be able to handle shortstop every day. like vargas, but something tells me michael bush will go somewhere else and be a stud. have a great weekend! georgia looked great yesterday, but don’t let alabama slip into those playoffs! don’t like em, but they keep getting better!