Former MLB Pitcher Blames Lay Off, Format for Dodgers Early Exit in NLDS
Another year, and another sad ending for the Dodgers. Once again, LA failed to get out of the NLDS, which marks the third time in the last five seasons that they haven’t advanced.
It’s become a pattern at this point for this organization, and it has been maddening to see it over and over again. The Dodgers offense that set records during the regular season went completely ice cold over the three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and there is no good reason as to why.
Some have blamed the five-day layoff between the end of the regular season and the start of the postseason. One former MLB pitcher believes that the break is what did the Dodgers in, and he gave his reasoning.
“Dodgers got served. Straight up. Think about the layoff situation from this perspective. They had 5 days off between the end of the season & game 1. Then played 3 games over 5 days. There were 5 straight days off during the AS break. A time where guys rest & recharge for the 2nd half push. Guys hate going into the break when they’re hot. Timing gets delayed. At no point during the regular season did the Dodgers play as few baseball games (4) in an 11 day stretch as they just completed. (last game of season to tonight). The 2 MVP candidates in Mookie & Freddie were a combined 1-21. Take home message is timing matters & not having game reps at this point of the season matters.”
Dallas Braden may be onto something because it hasn’t only been the Dodgers to falter in these playoffs. The American League-leading Baltimore Orioles also got swept in their playoff series and looked like a shell of themselves. And the league-leading Atlanta Braves lost in four games to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Something feels off about the current structure of the postseason, and it may need to be tweaked going forward. But even if the break is at fault, it still doesn’t excuse the poor performance that was put forth by the Dodgers in these playoffs. Or even last season, as well, for that matter.
The Dodgers have consistently found ways to underperform in the postseason, and enough is enough. This team is far too talented to let this happen year after year, and they may need to look internally to find the issue.
Whatever they have been doing to prepare for the playoffs isn’t working, and they need to make a change. Some will take this as firing manager Dave Roberts, but I don’t believe that would solve anything. He didn’t lose this series against Arizona, the offense did.
It has become an underlying issue for this team over the years, and the organization better take this offseason to find a solution. If they don’t, they will find themselves in a similar situation again next season.
Photo Credit: Rob Schumacher-Arizona Republic
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Excuses
The only team to make it thru despite having a layoff is the Astericks, and they did it 2 yrs in a row.Someone needs to find out what they do in the off time.
It wasn’t just the offense that lost the series. The starting pitching was terrible. Kershaw is not a #1 pitcher anymore, that much is obvious. Miller felt the pressure of winning a game after going down 0-1. Perhaps it would have been best to start him in Game 1. The butterflies would have been there no matter what.
Seems they stretch the layoff between playoff series to allow ALL teams to recharge their pitchers. This rewards the lower seeds and hurts to higher ones. Its SUPPOSED to be an advantage to be a higher seed.
Perhaps next year if The Dodgers end up with another 5 day break, they might play a few scrimmage games against OK City. This may maintain the teams skill set and keep them in a game type mentality.
Actually, I believe that the new playoff format is doing exactly what it was intended to do. Baseball fans who don’t live in L.A. or Atlanta don’t want to see the Braves and Dodgers playing for a championship every year. So its some kind of misguided effort to pique fan interest at the expense of the best teams.