Stop me if you’ve heard this before. The Dodgers had another early postseason exit. After winning exactly 100 games during the regular season, and winning the NL West for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons, the Dodgers failed to reach their ultimate goal of winning the World Series. The ghost and demons of past postseason failures showed its ugly head yet again. How is this one different you may ask?
Well, how does losing to a team that won 84 games during the regular season and almost didn’t make it into the postseason until game 161 sound? It was flat out embarrassing the performance this Dodger team gave and now another offseason begins with every Dodger fan, player, media member, coach, trainer, and front office personnel asking the same question.
“What the hell happened?” What happened to the team that won 100 games? What happened to the young kids that showed so much promise? What happened to the veterans that were supposed to help us in these big time moments? And the million dollar question, what happened to our two superstars? Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman should get a lot of blame for this because during these three postseason games they hit a combined 1-21 with no RBI’s, extra base hits or home runs. Just a bunch of pop ups, groundouts, and strikeouts.
From spring training it was very clear that these two guys were going to have to carry the load if this team was going to have any success. And you know what hurts? They did carry the load. They were both MVP candidates this season but for some reason they just disappeared when it mattered the most.
Another big question that’s going to be asked is what happens with Clayton Kershaw? He didn’t good look at all in his first and only start during this postseason as he was only able to get one out. Injuries was a big part again this season for him as he missed time due to a shoulder injury. How was he before that? He was one of if not the favorite to win the Cy Young award in the National League. Me personally, I hate to say it because Kershaw is one of my all time favorite Dodgers ever and he’s like a hero to me but I think I’m ready to move on. You need good young starting pitching to win in October. I’m not saying Kershaw still can’t be good but his injuries are starting to catch up to him and it’s been a while since he’s pitched a full season healthy.
Oh yeah and did I mention something needs to be done about this offense? This is the second straight postseason that the offense failed to perform. I don’t know exactly who to get but they scored 2 runs in each game this series which is unacceptable. Especially when you had 4 players that had over 100 RBI’s during the season. Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, J.D. Martinez, and Max Muncy.
Lastly, does this series loss finally mean the end of Dave Roberts? He wasn’t the reason why they lost this series but maybe having a new voice in the clubhouse can change things. Unfortunately, he will still get heat from Dodger fans and I think at this point in time, a lot of fans are going to be very upset if he’s still managing this ball club in 2024.
It’s going to be very interesting to see how the Dodgers approach this offseason because now more than ever, the fans are listing and watching every move. Dodger fans, including myself, are getting sick and tired of the same thing happening every season. Having a great regular season but flaming out quickly when it matters the most. If there’s one thing I did learn from this past season is that winning the NL West doesn’t mean a damn thing and the “gap” between the Dodgers and other teams in this division is a lot closer than we may think. This is the most frustrating part that sucks about baseball sometimes. Your postseason run can end as quickly as it started and you’ll never know what could’ve been.