Dodgers Team News
Dodgers News: Baseball Insider Questions Team’s Approach in the Postseason
Just about everyone in the Dodgers’ organization has been blamed for their disappointing NLDS exit in the 2022 postseason. Everyone from Andrew Friedman to Dave Roberts to Mookie Betts to Trea Turner to Will Smith’s baby has taken some sort of heat — and it probably won’t stop anytime soon.
Dodgers insider David Vassegh joined the guys on AM570 to talk Dodger baseball, and put his own perspective on where to place the blame on this monumental collapse.
“I think it’s fair to question the process in the postseason,” Vassegh told Petros and Money. “They certainly have conquered the process in the regular season but I do believe it’s fair to question the process in the postseason. I think we need to question why Tyler Anderson was predetermined to only go five innings despite the game not being played out yet.”
Vassegh is referring to the fact that Dodger starters have been notoriously taken out of games early, especially in big games. Tyler Anderson was through five shutout innings in Game 4, before the Dodgers went to the bullpen for the final 12 outs. The analytics were telling the Dodgers to remove Anderson from the game, but sometimes it’s important to go with the feel of it. Anderson was dealing, and he easily could have given them at least three more outs.
But Vassegh has seen this story before, and he thinks they need to start changing their postseason approach.
“Just insert Tyler Anderson’s name where Rich Hill’s name went in 2017 and 2018. And 2016,” Vassegh said.
Obviously you can’t point to just one reason for why the Dodgers didn’t win the NLDS, but Vassegh definitely brings up a great point. Hopefully LA reevaluates some of their approaches before next season, at least for October baseball.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more!
Follow Us
I don’t think starters should be pulled by rote formula all of the time. It depends on the pitch count, how the starter feels, what kind of stuff he still has, the contact being made on his pitches, hard or soft, what the catcher and pitching coach say, how tired he is, and other incalculable criteria. In terms of using the bullpen, the bullpen catcher and coach need to be consulted, and the reliever also in terms of his stuff, how ready and comfortable he is to go, and so on. It should be assumed that Roberts does all these things and relies on these folks to give him the straight scoop.
It’s called having 5 days off b4 you start your series for one. 2nd it’s the same thing every postseason with the Dodgers anemic offense to start the postseason, and leaving runners stranded on base! 3rd is blaming Roberts when Roberts was a small ball player. The guys upstairs are the ones calling the moronic analytics!! When your offense is anemic and you keep doing the same thing over and over again which is trying to hit the ball out of the ballpark at every at bat, and sacrificing strikeouts vs level hitting, and bunting to get men on base you are going to loose! You have to be able to situationally hit, and play small ball in the postseason the pitching is that much better. HR’s come from bunting and basic level hitting not the other way around. Especially when you are struggling to score runs. That’s baseball period!
I believe it’s a valid question. That is to question their process. But that isn’t the reason they lost the playoffs. They didn’t hit, they didn’t hit, they didn’t hit! That being said why not let Anderson at least face Soto in the sixth? Adjust your plan after that at bat. If the worst happens, you’re still up 3-1. And, your relief pitcher comes in with a clean inning. Let Anderson go batter by batter.
I agree about the process. No clear identity in our blowpen either! Also another key factor!
I’ve been saying this since Friedman arrived. In this six year run with Friedman and Roberts at the helm it has been a disaster. If the organization had real baseball minds leading this team. The dodgers might have at least 3 rings. The post season is a different animal and each game must be played out. Not in an analytic book
Why the pitching decisions are dissected so frequently every offseason when they’re not even the real problem is beyond me. If the hitters just did their damn job and didn’t completely fall apart every October the Dodgers would have probably 2 or 3 more World Series titles.
That 7th inning never even should have existed because the Dodgers should have swept that series. If they had gotten just three more hits with RISP, meaning they go I believe 8-34 instead of 5-34, we’d be watching them play in Philly tonight. The offense is constantly the issue in October yet everybody only freaks out over the pitching decisions. I don’t get it. Maybe because it’s easier to blame Roberts for that than it is to blame him for the lineup? I don’t know what it is but it’s odd.
You can all blame Roberts all you want but this years loss is 100% on the hitters IMO. The pitching has been good enough to win every year, it’s the hitters that always shit the bed. Why do they get a free pass yet Kershaw is considered a choker? The entire lineup (besides JT and now Freddie) are the real chokers.
I don’t know. Maybe they figured they might win that game and they would need him to be fresher sooner because of the shortened rotation. Maybe they figured the bullpen pitchers they had could hold the Padres to under three runs over four innings. Just throwing that out there.
Second-guessing is cheap and easy. Making decisions in real time, not so much.
That’s how you manage in the regular season. Not in a playoff elimination game. If that was Roberts thinking, then I’m switching to the fire Roberts now team.
I think starting Anderson in Game 3 would have been a better move. As much as I like Gonsolin, he hadn’t pitched the last month-month and a half of the season. Anderson was pretty solid all year, keeping the Dodgers in games and never really getting rocked. Gonsolin’s lack of facing MLB hitters at the end of the season was purely evident in his Game 3 outing.