The Los Angeles Dodgers lost Game 2 of the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday, and their veterans sent a message regarding their current thoughts on the potential three-peat they’re chasing this season.
What Did the Dodgers’ Veterans Say?
The Dodgers have the opportunity to make history this year, as a National League team hasn’t ever won three consecutive World Series. Fans and pundits alike expected the Dodgers to accomplish the feat throughout the entire season, doing so is far easier said than done.
“People think because we have a really good team, it should be easy. In baseball, nothing is easy,” infielder Miguel Rojas said. “If we’re going to do this, we’re going to have to go through heaven and hell.”
Rojas isn’t the only player who feels this way, as first baseman Freddie Freeman revealed where the Dodgers’ mind is heading into Game 3.
“Everyone starts talking about, ‘Is the bye good?’ Of course the bye is good,” Freeman said. “Do you want to go to a three-game (wild-card) series?
“…We’re not trying to think about winning three series in a row, three World Series. We’re trying to get through Tuesday.”
Freeman isn’t the only Dodger who wanted to avoid the Wild Card round, as Max Muncy echoed his sentiment on the first round of the postseason and emphasized the difficulty of what the Dodgers are doing.
“I’ve been saying this for a long time now: I don’t think people truly appreciate how hard it is to make a deep postseason run year in and year out,” Muncy said. “You see it every year with teams that make these runs and the next year they’re not even close to the same. They’re hurt. They’re worn out. They’ve got things going on.
“We’ve been able to weather that for a lot of years now. The Division Series is obviously not as much of a sprint as the wild card. But it’s a sprint. It’s five games. It’s short. They’re really, really tough to play.”
How Have the Dodgers Performed in the NLDS?
Through two games in the NLDS so far, the Dodgers haven’t exactly impressed. They leave Dodger Stadium with the series knotted at one game apiece following yet another toothless offensive performance in Game 2.
They scored five runs on three homers in the first game of the series, taking a 5-3 win during the Braves’ bullpen day, but only scored two runs in Game 2—both coming off of homers as well.
Things won’t get much easier for the Dodgers in Game 3 either, as they’re set to face Chris Sale on the road. The Dodgers struggled against Sale during the regular season, scoring just twice on the Cy Young-winning left-hander through 16 innings against him.
He will operate on just four days of rest, though, following his involvement in the Braves’ three-game Wild Card win against the Philadelphia Phillies, so the Dodgers will look to take advantage of any fatigue he may have. The third game of the Wild Card Series comes Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. PT.
4 Responses
I am not at all confident that we win this series against the Braves. Bottom line is that if we cant hit Chris Sale and go down 2-1 then we are in major trouble and this series might not even get back to LA for a game 5. We shall see what happens but being that we have not had single hit in 2 games with runners in scoring position tells you everything you need to know about what our offense has consistently been unable to do throughout the 2nd half of the season. And boy Pages can not hit in the postseason. Couple that with Shohei and his injury and we have way to many automatic outs. It would not surprise me after the season is over, that Shohei needs surgery for his biceps.
I’ve been saying this for two months that the Dodgers can’t hit and that will be their downfall! No one has addressed their hitting coach! They take way to many strikes cause their not aggressive!
They had a nice run, but it’s time to let the dream go! You can make all the excuses you want! Bottom line they’re just not good enough! Period!
We shall see. I like Yamamoto in this spot. He’s delivered whenever needed. 2 very good pitchers. I like our chances. Go Big Blue
So many people have so little faith in the Dodgers in the postseason. Fake fans!! They just have to dig deep and want it badly enough. They have a lot of amazing players that have this far been able to turn things around on a beat and I believe in them.