The Dodgers face two big questions coming into the postseason. Here is Question Number One, and of course, it involves Kenley Jansen.
Oscar Martinez
I was born in the shadow of Dodger Stadium and immediately drenched in Dodger Blue. Chavez Ravine is my baseball cathedral, Vin Scully was the golden voice of summer all my life, and Tommy Lasorda remains the greatest Dodgers manager ever. My favorite things are coffee, beer, and the Dodgers beating the Giants. I also blog about my baseball card hobby at All Trade Bait, All the Time.
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They will live and die by the bullpen. I have a lot of confidence in the offense and the starters. My only concern is giving up too many long balls. The good thing is they have home field throughout the NL side of things. They are a very good team at home. They also hold winning records against all of the NL squads except the Cardinals who swept a 4 game series in St Louis early in the year. Cody, Corey and Max were heating up the last week and Will Smith seemed to be coming out of his September malaise. Now we wait to see who makes the playoff roster.
Most of, if not all of the bullpen is suspect. GasKanley might actually be the biggest question mark, well actually he isn’t a question mark, based on his performance this past season there really isn’t a question mark, he is going to have problems in most of his appearances in the post season. I think it is highly likely that DR will actually have to remove him in the middle of an inning if and when GasKanley stumbles out of the gate with the first few hitters he faces. He often, will give up a base hit, HBP or walk the first batter he faces, then the next batter get on base also, if that happens hopefully Bert will pull on the leash and replace him. In the post-season there is no room for GasKanley and his 20 million reasons to throw away games.
I still have major doubts about the Dodgers offense, they see a lefty, Bert benches half the lineup and still reaps no offense with his right-handed batting order. They have tried the total overhaul of the batters all season long, and literally the right-handers have done no better against a lefty pitcher than the more productive balanced batters line-up. It really is amazing with all the stats that this club relies on, refuses to look at the stats of this poorly producing, sell-out right-handed batting lineup. I hate to say this but when facing a lefty, don’t be surprised to see a no-hitter or one or two hitter being tossed against them this post season.
wow – this is sooo spot on. most dodger fans still see this team through their blue colored glasses. Yes, I do really like this team but once they face any left handed pitcher forget about it. even ones with a 5+ era – they can’t hit them. What’s going to happen once they face the elite lhp in the playoffs? We know the dodgers will not hit home runs – they will start pressing – then have those terrible at bats like the previous years and go down without a fight.
Even though they have improved in some small ball offense – most of their runs and wins come when they hit the home run balls. That ain’t going to happen against the elite pitchers.
Having to to through possibly the Nats (scherzer, strasburg, corbin) don’t like the dodgers chances. then even if they make it through that – then to face a great braves team or the cardinals who have their number – or of course to get to the ws and then face teams like houston or the yankees.
Definitely don’t see the dodgers making it through. It’s really sad. Great team but never enough to win the big one. Bad timing.
That is totally wrong James. Might have been the case last year, but this year it is a different story. They hit .250 against lefty’s this year and one of the reasons is because guys like Bellinger and Muncy do very well against LHP. They have 172 extra base hits against LHP. DC, who will be their opponent in the NLDS has only 1 LH starter, Corbin , and the Dodgers know all about him since he used to pitch for the D-Backs. The Cardinals beat them in a 4 game series early in the year, but when they came to LA in August they got swept, so St Louis does not OWN the Dodgers. And they won the season series from the Braves. They have a win against Strasburg this year. They have seen Scherzer many times, and they have home field. And before you say anything about blue colored glasses, I have been watching this game a long time and the best team does not always win. And it is a lot harder to get to the World Series than it ever was. But you are not giving this team enough credit. They are approaching these playoffs with a lot different attitude than ever before. They are a patient team, a power hitting team with very good pitching. And they have been to the wars enough to not panic and get all excited if they get behind. Same thing DC did tonight against the Brewers. Their only perceived weakness is the bullpen. But that can change at the drop of a hat, and they are on a roll coming into the playoffs. If they lose, it will be because the opposition played better. No team no matter how good can predict the unexpected. Anything can and does happen. DC beat the Brewers best reliever and it all started with a hit batter. A broken bat single, a walk and then a line drive to RF that dropped in and got past the right fielder and the bases were cleared. Brewers hopes were dashed and that was that. The Dodgers have beaten good pitchers and bad pitcher. As for the home runs, every team in the majors pretty much set HR records this year and when you hit as many as the Dodgers did, 279 in a 162 game schedule, well yeah, they are as home run reliant as the next guy. But they won some games without homers too. Have a little faith there bud. They won 106 games for a reason and the reason is they are a damn good team.
True Blue , ya took the post I was about to make right out of my mouth, LOL. But true, and Michael says, Dodger pitching cannot be allowing the long balls early in the game. Believe it or not the Dodger staff allowed the fewest HR’s in the regular season if I got it right but when it matters the most (the PS and WS) they surrender them big time as we have seen in these past 2 WS appearances. In 12 games combined the Dodger pitching gave up 23 HR’s!
Dammit Paul, you just don’t get it, it doesn’t matter what they do or don’t do in the post-season, it’s all about the regular season. Remember getting there is the great accomplishment, not winning it all. It’s time for Los Angeles Braves Baseball!!!
LOL, but perhaps true. No pun intended. other than that hope you are doing well. Understandably, Dodgers won in a division that we all know is no where close to the caliber of other teams getting into the PS.
Jeter Downs fast became the possible Next Big Thing in the Dodgers system in 2019. Why? His surprising slugging ability had a lot to do with it.
More below on him and the ISO stat and the power of expectations:
https://www.milb.com/milb/news/toolshed-los-angeles-dodgers-jeter-downss-power-on-the-ups/c-310972634?tcid=tw_article_310972634
Good one, True Blue. You are in fine post-season form!