It took me a full week to get off the mat and write after the San Diego debacle. Sorry about that. I have always found that the most difficult post to write is the first one after being eliminated. Multiply that fact by about ten and that has been my mindset for a week.
Usually, when the Dodger season ends prematurely, I go through that mourning period that most loyal fans go through. This year was different, though. I simply had no desire to even look at Dodger news. I certainly wasn’t going to watch the other series’ that remain. This one stung. This one caused real heartache—more than the others.
All seemed to be falling into place this post season. The Mets and Braves were eliminated. The road to the World Series had all appearances of being easier. San Diego had been a foe that the team had manhandled all season long, even after their mid-season moves. It all was too perfect. They just needed to execute, and it didn’t happen.
I could see it coming as soon as the Dodgers underperformed in game 2, and then things just spiraled out of control. We watched Roberts start making those post season mistakes again. Removing pitchers after five, pinch hitting for Barnes (the only guy with two hits in the game) and giving up the DH. Not starting Bellinger against a righty. There were other questionable moves. Why rehash them now? The season is finished.
San Diego finally had a home field advantage with their SD County only ticket sale policy and it was as if the Dodgers had never played before a visiting crowd ever. Deer in the headlight looks. Guys giving up even though the game was still in reach. Lackluster ABs, physical and mental errors on the defensive side of the ball. A lack of spirited play. The guys were flat, and they couldn’t come out of it. How many runners were left in scoring position this series? Once they gave up the lead in the 7th inning of game four, there was no fight left in these guys.
This could have been a season for the ages. They were right there on the precipice of greatness, and they couldn’t get it done. Favored by most pundits. They had dominated the season, almost from start to finish. We discussed all of that. They set records and looked well rested and prepared for post season play. It was supposed to be a season that would be forever remembered. Well, they assured us of that, but for all the wrong reasons. Now, it will be remembered as the biggest disappointment in the history of the franchise.
When you win 111 games, you are supposed to finish on top. When your Pythagorean record is even better than those 111 wins, when your run differential is the highest ever for a National League team, when you lead the league in ERA, when your 2 and 3 hitters led the league in hits, and runs, etc., etc., you are supposed to win it all. These guys got outplayed by a team they dominated all year. They were outclassed by a team that outhustled and outsmarted them. The Padres didn’t blow them out. They didn’t even have very many clutch hits. What they did was perform with confidence and wait it out. They took out their Goliath from the North and they did so with a lot of joy before a raucous home crowd.
As the final outs approached, I couldn’t help but wonder if this is the last that we see of Cody Bellinger in a Dodger uniform. Or Chris Taylor, Clayton Kershaw, Max Muncy and/or Justin Turner. It is probably a foregone conclusion that Trea Turner is history. Andrew Heaney is also most likely gone and possibly Tyler Anderson. We just may have seen the end of that Dodger dominance that we experienced for the past decade.
I realize that the cupboard is not bare and that the farm system is fairly well stocked, but prospects are simply that – prospects. For every Seager, Bellinger (early years), Urias, Buehler and WIll Smith that come up, there are a flurry of guys like McKinstry, Kendall, Sands, Dennis Santana, Peters, Raley, and Zach Lee. The front office will probably have to move on and make decisions about underperforming veterans that make a lot of money. That makes up some players with a lot of post season experience that may be let go, and some have performed well on the big stage before. What happened to those guys? This was such a debacle.
Last year the critics claimed that the Dodgers were gassed and dead tired by the time they started the NLCS. I am totally on board with that. The Giants took a lot out of them. This year they were determined to not be in that same position, and they weren’t. They clinched early. They were well rested. They were not injury-free, but many major components were healthy. They simply lost their edge in those final three weeks of the season. Perhaps there is a comfortable medium between how they handled 2021 and 2022. They obviously haven’t found it yet. How do you find that? I’d like to know who has the formula.
Is finding that “comfortable medium” on the front office and Friedman? His amdinistration built a 111-win team. It wasn’t three weeks ago that most were poking fun of AJ Preller and his “overspending” for the likes of Bell, Drury, Hader and Soto only to fall 22 games out of first place. Now look at them, they blasted through the first two rounds of the playoffs. THe NLCD doesn’t look too promising to th few would have predicted them to make it this far when postseason plkay began. How quickly the tides turn.
Billy Beane was known as a genius GM for the regular season records his team would have with a miniscule payroll, but they never could win a post season series. Is Friedman like that, but with the money to spend? We all know he knows how to build a franchise of strength, but there comes a time when he can only do so much. The guys on the field have to handle the pressure in the post season before the entire world. Now there are writers out there like Plaschke that are delegitimizing the 2020 season because it wasn’t played before fans. We will continue hearing the haters out there that will say they haven’t won a true World Series since 1988? That is inevitable.
Is there a positive in all of this? It’s a reach, but I can think of a few possible ones.
- Had they ascended to the World Series and lost to the Astros, the sting would have been even more bitter.
- We can hope that this early exit lights a fire in Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman who will vow to not let this happen again with a renewed vigor. I believe they are vets and have enough poride to overcome this disappointing setback.
- The off-season will shake things up, which means we will likely see new faces and new approaches.
- Perhaps there is something to the Aaron Judge rumors. As of this writing, the Yankees are on the verge of elimination down 3-0 to Houston.
- No shift next year will mean that Bellinger and Muncy’s averages raise 50 points. Do we really want to see them do it in another uniform?
- Dave Roberts will refrain from predicting a World Series victory in 2023. He attempted to pull a “Pa Riley” this year and it probably wasn’t a good motivating tool.
- For the first time in many years, Spring Training will be really interesting as young stud arms attempt to make the pitching staff. Gavin Stone sticking out as the most obvious choice.
- Unlike last year, the “hot stove” will actually probably be cooking with some news this off-season.
- Next season, when the Dodgers fall far short of their 111-win plateau with I don’t know…say 89 wins? They should be in great shape for a long post season run.
- The San Francisco Giants still are awful. And speaking of the Giants….see below.
Precisely 5 minutes after the Dodgers were eliminated, I received the following facebook post from a moronic former co-worker of mine who does this every year after the Dodgers are eliminated. Based on his typo, I figure worked on it for days.
“The greatest CHOKE (upset) of all time. Couldn’t happen to a better ballclub, They should consider resigninging (sic) D. Roberts for another 10 years! What can I say…..GO GIANTS!!!!!”
I am tempted to post the guy’s name and email address here. Nah, can’t go that far…but it is so tempting.
Discussion (15)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Congratulations Phillies. You slayed the southern dragon. Now enjoy the Astros. I am not totally sure how any of the warts can be removed or at least fixed. At this point in time there is a ton of uncertainty surrounding the team. 10 free agents, a couple of possible non tenders. Trade pieces by the boatload. Some interest in players who will be free agents in about 19 days. I do feel, and this is just me that there needs to be some shift in the batting approach and maybe a new voice or two. Plaschkie suggested a new bench coach, a new game planner and a new batting coach. I think any help you can give Roberts on his in game decisions would be a plus. Plaschkie also said something about the post season games seem to speed up and Roberts, who handle the in season management well, gets a little discombobulated during the playoffs. Oh well, what do I know.
Funny…. but this one didn’t hurt that much to me.
Perhaps I’ve grown too accustomed to the Dodgers’ tendency to fizzle. Perhaps I’ve inherited the “wait ’til next year” attitude from Brooklyn days.
I remember hurting a few years back when Roberts failed to pull Kersh against Washington and he gave up the bombs I remember he anger, and hurt, when we learned that the Trashtros cheated.
This time, I always realized that the Dodgers just weren’t really much better than the other top teams–the Astros, the Braves, the Mets, the Yanks. Losing to the Padres…. OK, that sort of hurt, but mostly I felt disgust.
For Dodgers fans, perhaps the best news of the postseason is that we can all root for the Phillies now.
The Phils upgraded their roster at midseason by dealing with the Angels for Brandon Marsh and Syndergaard. I don’t think either of those guys would have helped the Dodgers–but it was a smart move for the Phils. Other smart midseason moves: Drury and Hader to the Pads, Bader to the Yankees, Castillo to the Mariners, Mancini to the Trashtros.)
I have no ax to grind against Scott, but his entire thrust for years has been to discredit Andrew Friedman. When he came here posting that stuff here, I just invited him to go back to his blog (which many times has zero comments on his posts) and post it there, but he wants to argue and call you names. Today, he challenged Bluto, and when Bluto blew up his argument, he told him to Fuck Off. That’s all I have to say… except that I hope he gets help. Really, I do. I am not a grudge-holder, but I also don’t keep repeating the past.
Carry on. I am now a certified Phillies fan until the World Series is over.
Just the way the Phils drew it up. They sure know how to build a winning team over there
If Philly winning the pennant is not proof the playoffs are a complete crapshoot, I’m not sure what is.
Padres eliminated.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Three observations on the NLCS:
1. Phillies phun
2. Machado, Harper and Soto. Pretty good.
3. Joe Davis, really goood
Well, Scott tried to post again. I think he wanted you all to see it. It was a love letter to me. 😉
Here it is:
“You would know about name calling Mark, as that is all you do. Like when you called my writers all idiots several years ago.
Go Fuck yourself Mark, you are a pathetic piece of shit. I fucking hate you!
Fuck you!!! Fuck you!!! FUCK YOU, YOU ARE A PATHETIC PIECE OF SHIT BLOWHARD EGOMANIAC. Go fuck yourself you motherfucker. Rot in hell piece of shit. Fuck you!!! Fuck you!!!!
Who would have thought the Phillies are 1 win away from the World Series.
I focus a lot on pitching, it’s no secret here, most of you if not all of you know that. For the most part the Dodgers had a very good pitching staff this year. I looked at the pitching staff and if Friedman can sign the key free agent pitchers we have there’s not a lot of room for others. Plus Gavin Stone will take a spot too, I’m high on him.
The position players should and I think will be the main focus for Friedman in the coming months. I see a lot of holes there to be filled.
Think about what it would have been like in the playoffs especially game 4 to have an effective Kimbrel for the 9th inning. It didn’t work out that way because Kimbrel sucked. But it didn’t matter anyways because the hitting sucked and the hitting was the biggest problem.
Anyways, I hope the Phillies win it all because I hate the Padres, Yankees and Astros. I think all of us here feel the same way.
I felt the same as you Evan. But having felt that down before, I recovered quickly. Right now, I am really enjoying the Phillies giving the Padres a dose of their own medicine. Also, I am getting ready to start my trip home. So there have been many distractions to keep me from getting depressed all over again. I have no clue why the team played so poorly when they should have been inspired to play their best. All year long the rhetoric was we have one goal, and that goal is to win the World Series. What changed? I have to believe, since 3 of the 4 teams who had a bye were eliminated in the DS, that the 5-day layoff was a detriment to all of them. Only the Astros have played like they did not take a day off. The inability, or the plan to limit, starters to 5 innings really stressed the bullpen. What worked during the season, flopped big time in the series. Even though the team generally was very good with 2 outs and men in scoring position, there were times during the year when they simply left a ton of runners on base. They were mediocre in 1 run games, and in extra innings, they were abysmal. I think it was a huge mistake to put so many players on the playoff roster who were either just off of the IL, IE, Treinen, Gonsolin, May, or just plain ineffective, Gallo, Vargas. I think they did the right thing with Kimbrel, but a dis-service to Alberto, who when he was on the field, he played his heart out. But that is just my opinion.
One more thought. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think young players can be an incredible catalyst for success, and that the Dodgers missed an opportunity to let a player or two make a difference. — not the mention experience for our young talent. Instead, we relied entirely on veterans who had dismal seasons to suddenly turn it on in the playoffs (Bellinger, Muncy, Justin).
I don’t agree the Dodgers lost their edge at the end of the regular season. The Dodgers were fun to watch all year, but all those wins never made me feel like a WS appearance was a lock.
No team is better at platooning during the regular season and the Dodgers’ incredible depth results in many wins against the “have-not” teams. That said, however, you cannot expect to win big-moment games with core players batting less than .200 (Bellinger, Muncy) and another fragile, core player having to be nursed all season (JT).
Adding to the fragility of the situation, we were def unlucky with the health of our pitching staff. I believe a healthy 123 combo of Buehler, Julio, and Gonsolin would have kept runs of the board giving the Dodger bats time to come around. But we did not have that luxury, unfortunately.
Many of us felt uneasy about Trace being a starter. To my earlier point, putting Trace in reg. season games where he can succeed is fine, but the playoffs?
The result of these factors meant the Dodgers margin for error was slim, which meant the role and decisions of the manager would be amplified. We needed Roberts to inspire his players to greatness, and we needed him to deftly handle the pitching staff. In my opinion, he did neither, which is why we lost to an inspired Padres team.
On the last thread, Scott LADR wrote this:
“Filthiest changeup in baseball? Are you kidding Mark?
You just be on drugs to be this irrational and idiotic. You are by far the biggest blowhard of Dodger writers. By far. I didn’t even say anything about Kahnle, but if you really believe that you’ve got to be the biggest dumbass of all time.
Tommy Kahnle the reliever who has a career of injury and mediocrity, and gave up the first runs of the seventh inning of the Padres rally that knocked the Dodgers put of the playoffs this year. Lolz!!!!
Keep kissing Friedmans ass Mark!”
That’s the kind of stuff I would expect from a 7th grader. Name-calling is his best asset.
Before I kick him off this board, Tommy Kahnle does have one of the best change-ups in baseball… if not the best. You can argue who has it, but he is in the conversation. There are dozens of articles like this:
https://empiresportsmedia.com/mlb/new-york-yankees-tommy-kahnle-featured-on-mlb-coms-best-changeups-list/
Read ’em and weep, Scottie Boy. Go back to your empty blog and take whoever wants to be lead by a small-minded troll with you.
Goodbye! Like Patch said: “Suicide by Cop.”
As crazy as it sounds, I don’t see Aaron Judge out of the picture any longer. I could see him being offered one of those short-term record setting contracts, similar to what was given to Trevor Bauer, (but with much higher yearly annual #’s). He will be 31 next year. Will the Yankees offer him a contract that pays him into his 40s?
Of course, there are the Giants, his favorite team growing up, who even have more money off the books to spend.
Zaidi, Freeman and Cashman probably will all be in on him. I wouldn’t put it passed Friedman finding a creative and attractive deal for the slugger that edges out the others.
Arenado has an opt out clause this offseason.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!
Lot’s of interesting stuff to unpack here, Evan.
But first, Congratulations on your first blog post here without my help! I knew you could do it.
Yes, I expect to see Gavin Stone in the rotation next year. .. maybe not outta the gate, but shortly thereafter. Gavin started 25 games last year and pitched 122 innings. He’s ready to step up to 150+. He just turned 24 and he has the stuff to be a #2.
The Dodgers will not give the QO to anyone. Anderson will be offered a 3 year/$36 million deal… He might get a better offer, but he will be back unless it is a lot more.
No to Verlander and Hell No to deGrom.
Muncy is signed for 2023, so he will be here.
I could see AF try and sign Bellinger to a $10 million contract with incentives that could take it to $20 million. The question is: Would Belli sign? If he did, that would be acceptable to me.
AF is not going to pay JT $16 Million… maybe $8 – 10 Million. Will JT Retire… or sign?
Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman should spend a couple of weeks with Michael Jordon and pick his brain on leadership.
The Dodgers will win 100+ games next year.
I hope I am wrong about Lux playing SS.
After further review:
Lineup:
1. Lux SS
2. Betts RF
3. Freeman 1B
4. Smith C
5. Muncy 3B
6. Vargas LF
7. Turner/Rios DH
8. Bellinger CF
9. Busch/Taylor 2B
Rotation:
1. Urias
2. May
3. Anderson
4. Gonsolin
5. Stone
Closers: Vesia and Phillips