NL West Division Winner or Wild Card?
It s really as simple as that! The regular season is over and this is the Mini-Playoff to determine who wins the West. While everything is reset to Zero, I think it might be good if we list what this team did this year without Corey Seager, because frequently it was all about one of the following: What a stupid lineup Doc ran out (there were complaints yesterday and it turned
It’s really as simple as that!
The regular season is over and this is the “Mini-Playoff” to determine who wins the West. While everything is “reset to Zero,” I think it might be good if we list what this team did this year without Corey Seager, because frequently it was all about one of the following:
- What a stupid lineup Doc ran out (there were complaints yesterday and it turned out sorta’ OK);
- How the hitters can’t perform with RISP; and
- How bad the bullpen is.
The 2018 LA Dodgers NL Rankings:
- #1 in Runs Scored
- #1 in Run Differential
- #1 in Home Runs
- #1 in RBI
- #1 in Walks
- #1 OB%
- #1 in Slugging%
- #1 in OPS%
- #2 in Doubles
- #1 in ERA
- #1 in Starter ERA
- #5 in Reliever ERA (not bad for the issues that arose)
- #1 in WHIP
- #1 in Strikeouts
- #15 out of 15 in Walks by Pitchers
- #1 in Fewest Runs Allowed
This is a pretty damn good team with 12 players over .775 OPS, 10 over .800 and 3 over .900 OPS! AND (I am going to keep saying it until proven wrong), they are built for the playoffs! The guys they start, pinch hit or relieve with have mostly been battle-tested, been there, done that, got the t-shirt kind of guys. They had their hearts ripped out by their failures last year and my personal opinion was that they cruised through the season, waiting and looking-forward to this time. This time of redemption!
That their focus wasn’t always there is apparent, but it’s just as apparent what happened when they were forced to focus to fight for all the marbles. You saw total focus against the Giants (never mind their record – they were playing for pride and because they hate the Dodgers). Even Rich Hill showed total focus and pitched his best game of the season. By the way, it’s going to be good to see 22 year-old Julio Urias in the rotation next year. We can’t speculate what will happen but Buehler and Urias will for a strong #1 and #2 for years to come.
Forget the stats. Forget their record. If this team is who I think they are, they will come out and punch Colorado right in the face. They have singular focus: World Series or Bust! The 2018 season was almosta bust, but here we are… waiting and watching to see what they have in the Post-Season. Enjoy the ride…. because I think it’s going to take a while. “Are we there yet?” No, quit bothering your brother!”
Bring on Striker Buehler!
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Discussion (114)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Baez in. I’m not nervous. Gulp.
Buehler is a stud, and quickly becoming the ACE of the Dodger staff.
All this analysis leading to paralysis…
All the wailing and gnashing of teeth..
Let’s just say scoreboard…
And starting humming those words of Freddie Mercury and Queen, We Are The Champions…
Just got home in time to see buehler hit. Love the enthusiasm coming off the field. That’s what “untouchable” looks like. You cant have him hes ours.
Striker strikes!!!!
This Buehler kid is pretty good.
Muncy proving he’s big time!!
That had to feel good for Cody!
A lot of big swings and misses this game and then B cranks one
Damn I definitely feel the playoff intensity (within myself) picking up now!
Time for some pushups
Gotta bad feeling about this one.
Beuhler missing by a distance sometimes.
Gonna be undone by walks
wow. through 3ip. 42/28 pitches/strikes for buehler; 41/28 for the other guy.
first act done!
That looked like the old Puig.
What’s the point in a replay if they’re no gonna Man up & overturn a bad call?
Who is Jon Sciambi?
Good for the Brewers for taking it away from the Cubbies, in September.
12 wins for a ring. let’s go!
Guys
Game is on MLB.com but only with the Rox broadcast
MJ, since this is a regular season game, they added the tickets for today’s into our Dodgers account at the regular season pricing. I think it was done last Thurs or Fri, when this game seemed to be a real possibility.
the 4 best records in baseball this year belong to the AL. if that’s not a sign this is the NL’s turn to win it all i don’t know what is.
I remembered we hit this Rockies pitcher well in June, when this team was the hottest, so I took a look at his numbers.
Although he allowed 9 HRs in June, he has not allowed more then 2 HRs in the months, following June.
And we have to remember he is pitching a lot in Coors, too.
Without spending too much researching, I’d have to say the matchups in this game are as follows:
Starting pitching–Even. Our guy is good but inexperienced. Their guy is recently very hot. Though tempting to put it in our ledger, calling this one a draw.
Starting lineup–I’m giving this one to Colorado. While we have depth and variety, they have multiple high-impact guys who can dominate a game. Controversial ruling but fair in my view.
Bullpen–Advantage us. We have a rested Floro & Ferguson not to mention Maeda & Jansen at the end. If we can get 5 great innings from Buehler, that might be enough.
Bench–Big advantage for us. We have Kemp, Freese, Taylor, & Dozier on the bench and whoever COL has isn’t better than that.
Intangibles: Toss-up. We have experience; they have the hunger of trying to get their first division crown.
Prediction: We win but it’s not easy and we fall behind early. Thinking 7-4 advances win advances us to NLDS vs. ATL.
Dodger Stadium, full of Dodgers fans and where the air pressure is where it’s supposed to be should suppress the appetite of Colorado’s bats. Dodgers have the redemption factor of game 7 still fresh and the spirits of 88 to cheer us forward, play by play even. Dodgers won’t let it slip through their fingers today! Our house is a very, very fine house and lunch will be served. GO DODGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!! CHEERS FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Joc – (Against Marquez – .333 – 3/9 – 2 HR)
JT – (.000 – 0/6)
Muncy – (.200 – 1/5)
Machado – Has not faced Marquez
Grandal – (.111 – 1/9)
Bellinger – (.000 – 0/9)
Puig – (.167 – 1/6)
Kike’ – (.333- 1/3)
Buehler – (.000 – 0/4)
.
Blackmon – (.308 – 4/13)
LeMahieu – (.200 – 2/10)
Dahl – (.250 – 2/8)
Arenado – (.222 – 2/9)
Story – (.167 – 2/12)
Gonzalez – (.250 – 2/8)
Desmond – (.182 – 2/11)
Woltors – (.250 – 1/4)
Marquez – (.250 – 1/4)
Going back to Mark’s notion that this team is built for the playoffs – I hope so, big question in my mind though, and play on the field today and going forward will give us the answer to that one not any statistics. Todays game is big, and with Buehler going there is a lot of confidence. If they do not get past Colorado (I think they do), all could go south very fast.
What will determine how this team performs going forward in my opinion is, will Buehler be tough as nails today? Will Kershaw wilt or shine (he does have a checkered playoff history)? Will Ryu continue to shine? Will Hill pitch like yesterday or like some of his other stinkers (good news here is Utley found that he was tipping his pitches)?
Will Roberts jettison the assinine lineups and play the BEST players (he knows who they are)? Will he temper his BP moves, rarely are they spot on, they are often too early or way too late. If Dozier makes the playoff roster please use him only as a defensive late inning guy.
Will the BP perform when needed? Big question, but lately they are much better.
And the biggest question is will these talented players continue to swing for the fences or play like they did against SF?