Dodgers News: Max Muncy Gets Brutally Honest About Playoff Loss to Arizona
The Los Angeles Dodgers have had a dream offseason this winter, but it wasn’t long ago that the team was leaving Arizona after being swept by the division-rival Diamondbacks in the NLDS.
The team struggled in every facet of the game that series, and had one of their more disappointing postseason exits in recent memory.
While the front office has done their work to help the fanbase move on, some of the players were still fielding questions regarding last year’s playoff exit at DodgerFest. Max Muncy put it bluntly when speaking to reporters over the weekend:
“There’s no way around it. We sucked. We blew it.”
Muncy struggled in the NLDS last year, but he was far from the problem. In 11 at-bats, Muncy collected two hits, had four strikeouts, and a .432 OPS.
The struggles may have been a blessing in disguise, though, as the front office decided to go all in this offseason to ensure they never happened again. While there’s no telling what would have happened if the Dodgers had a good postseason, it would be hard to find anyone with the organization angry about their successes this offseason.
It’s championship or bust for the Dodgers, now more than ever. The pressure is at an all-time high, but there’s no other way these players and this organization would want it.
The Dodgers and their fans are tired of losing and coming up short time and time again. The front office built this team to make sure 2023 and the shortcomings of the past don’t happen anymore.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
I think I’ve understood the stance the Dodgers front office took last year in looking forward to this year. They’ve always had their eyes on signing the prized 2’way player Shohei Ohtani this year, and that was most important for future years. They did not spend lavishly on free agents last year which frustrated the fan base. The 2023 year however surprisingly turned out better than expected but the overall lack of pitching talent revealed itself at the end. They have thus unsurprisingly launched their all out quest for Ohtani and other desired talent this year. Meanwhile, other teams have not been able to compete financially in signing free agents because of the profuse amount of money they spent signing free agents last year. Other teams are blown away by LA’s lavish spending and calculated planning.
I absolutely love that these guys aren’t trying to hide or shy away from this. After the loss to the Padres in ‘22 they all seemed to kind of just shrug it off as whatever. But this offseason they’ve all addressed it and admitted they sucked and can’t wait to show they’re not the chokers they’re labeled as. I can’t wait for this season. That’s something I didn’t think I’d be saying after losing to Arizona.
Multiple teams offered Ohtani the same deal as the Dodgers. Ohtani chose the Dodgers, and you can’t blame them for that. Nevertheless, as history clearly demonstrates, you don’t win by spending a bunch of money on prima donnas. Frankly, I think the Dodgers 2nd again behind the DBags and just a hairline ahead of the Giants and Pads.