Dodgers Top the Wrong Type of Rankings According to the Ringer
The Dodgers are the most painful team to watch in the playoffs this decade. That’s according to The Ringer’s Postseason Pain Index, a rankings system that calculates which MLB fanbases have had to suffer the most in the 2010s.
The rankings are determined by what they call a “comeback score” for each series a team has lost, which is basically the losing team’s peak win probability in that game. The Ringer set a baseline of 50% for each time, and subracted that from the comeback score.
“For instance, the Dodgers’ series win probability against the Nationals peaked at 89.3 percent, so L.A. gets 89.3 – 50 = 39.3 points for this series,” Zach Kram explained in the story.
Essentially, the more times a team has blown it in the playoffs, the more points they get.
One could imagine the Dodgers scoring a lot on this list, and they did. Their 139.8 points is actually the highest out of any other major league team. Right behind them are the Nationals, ironically, with 114.1 points.
Wednesday’s decisive game five is what ended up pushing the Dodgers into the number one spot, the image of Howie Kendrick smashing a grand slam off Joe Kelly in the 10th burned into the minds of Dodgers fans.
It also brings up several painful moments throughout the decade, such as the 2014 NLDS when Kershaw gave up a 6-2 lead in the seventh inning to the Cardinals in game one. There’s also game four of that same series, game five of the 2015 NLDS against the Mets, the 2016 NLCS against the Cubs, and most painfully, game seven of the 2017 World Series when Darvish gave up five runs in two innings.
This decade has been filled with heartbreak and disappointment for Dodgers fans, and we can only hope that the next one finally brings that ring back to the Los Angeles.
Kershaw had a disastrous performance? Uh, hello. The bats were dead silent with RISP. Maybe some contact hitting rather than going for the HR at every at bat might have scored 1 or 2 extra runs???? A man on second with no outs and you can’t even move him to third?? THAT is the biggest choke. And the strikeouts? Not being able to even strike the ball? That many times? Don’t get me started…. Kershaw giving up two runs does not compare to the runs lost due to poor batting. Every batter that had the shift on him, needs to go to Spring Training a month early and practice on nothing but opposite field hitting, and bunting. Hey, but we had a record number of HR’s. Yaaaaaay!
When I think of the Dodger hitters during this series the word “flailing” comes to mind. Yeah, we also got the Best Minor League system of the year award, for not trading anyone to help solve the pitching dilemma.
I think I’ll get my DVD of the ’88 World Series out and remember what a real clutch ball club looked like.
Nah they’re cursed it won’t happen for atleast two more decades
If you think about it, outside of a 30 year period (1950s-1980s) the Dodgers have been a completely cursed franchise.
Yes perhaps this is just things getting back to what they were always meant to be
Yeah from 1955-1988 was the golden era of this franchise yes there was disappointments but there was always a championship at the end of the tunnel. I think that’s probably going to be the only golden era in this teams history. For the rest of time we will be the pre 1955 Brooklyn bums but LA version
At last, someone understands (or is it something?). The pain has been a lot longer than this decade, but what can you do?
The Giants get the award for crappiest team to win. I’m still completely shocked at how they won 3 World Series.
It was a time in baseball where there wasn’t any super teams. It was a dream era for scrappy underdog teams. Look at the teams they beat none of them are anywhere near as good as these teams today. The timing was just perfect for them. It was finally their time