Dodgers News: Clayton Kershaw Credits Padres, ‘They Played Better’
The 111 win regular season Dodgers were nowhere to be found in the postseason. Facing the Padres in the NLDS — a team they had beat in 14 of 19 battles throughout the season — LA went 1-2 and was bounced in the first round of the playoffs.
Hardly the script that was written when Dave Roberts declared that the Dodgers would be crowned as World Series champions in an interview before the season. Then, he offered the caveat that his team would win it all if the pitching staff stayed healthy. By October, it was the healthiest it had been nearly all season. Save for Walker Buehler, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, the team had the personnel Doc said they needed.
So, what happened?
The bats didn’t show up. The timely hits were hard to come by, if they ever came at all. And the San Diego Padres capitalized on every opportunity they could.
Dodgers Lose NLDS to Padres, What Needs to Change for Dodgers, Why LA Collapsed in the Postseason
Following the stunning game four loss, a somber Clayton Kershaw shared his thoughts on the series and the rival to the south that was moving on to the National League Championship Series for the first time in nearly 25 years.
You got to give a lot of credit to these Padres. They had a lot of great at-bats the whole series and made big pitches when they had to. They played better than us. It’s hard to admit sometimes but that’s the honest truth of it. They just beat us.
The Padres have been piecing together a roster almost specifically assembled to beat the Dodgers. During the season, it looked like everything they had done wasn’t going to be enough. Again, LA had won 14 of 19 meetings, including 6 of 9 after the Friars acquired Juan Soto at the trade deadline.
But they got hot at the right time as the Dodgers got cold and that’s just how baseball works sometimes. There are plenty of moments fans can look back at and excuses that could be made as the team headed into the series. But Kershaw hit the nail on the head. The Padres played better than the Dodgers.
Kershaw is 100% correct because the Padres played w/ more energy and focus compared to the Dodgers who were complacent and laid back because Roberts made them that way. He put a big time “BACHI” on the team by predicting the Dodgers were going to win the World Series before the season even started. That was so arrogant where no manager would say that to fuel the fire for all the opponents. What a fool…..need a manager w/ better common sense and humility.
The post season bye for the teams who won their leagues was the biggest problem. Giving a team who is a wild card the opportunity to continue playing While the champions in each league are put on the shelf for five days where they can cool off is a problem. Playing inter squad games instead of continuing into the post season is not replacement. There is not fervor from the crowd, not high stress moments in a inter squad game. While the wild card teams can keep the fervor of the season moving forward. The five-day bye plan is like dumping cold water on the teams. No wonder the Braves couldn’t keep going, and the Yankees are also not competing at their normal high level. This 2022 Post Season is totally unfair to those teams who worked so hard to win their divisions. It’s almost better to just play under a team’s total power and become a Wild Card Team so they can get right into the post season without delay. If they wanted to punish the champions of each league they couldn’t have come up with a better plan.