Saturday, October 12, 2024
Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2024
On Friday, the Los Angeles Dodgers advanced to the NLCS to face the New York Mets.
Only a few people thought the Dodgers would advance to the NLCS. I didn’t because the Dodger starting rotation is decimated with injuries. After the All-Star break, the San Diego Padres had the best record in baseball. Their pitching was outstanding, both the starting rotation and the bullpen. Fernando Tatis, Jr., and Manny Machado always delighted in producing against the Dodgers.
Though the Dodgers have been to the NLDS since 209 (I know the Dodgers have been there much more but it is easier to talk about that), they have been to the NLCS only twice. Most of the time the Dodgers had the best or second-best record in baseball. In 2020, a COVID-abbreviated season, the Dodgers won it all, and the Dodgers lost to the Atlanta Braves in the 2021 NLCS since their starting rotation was exhausted.
In the 2022 and 2023 seasons, the Dodgers had won over 100 games but didn’t have the necessary grit to get through the NLDS against the Padres or the Arizona Diamondbacks. They didn’t battle for their National League Western Division. This year, the Dodgers didn’t clinch the National League Western Division until the last Thursday of the regular season. This gave the Dodgers experience with playing a high-pressure game before the NLDS started.
The Padres gave the Dodgers hell, but the Dodgers didn’t quit. The Dodgers bounce back from a large deficit in the first game thanks to Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández. They didn’t do anything in the second game and looked shell-shocked.
Game 3 the Dodger defense fell apart in the second inning sabotaging Walker Buehler’s good starting effort. Teoscar Hernández had a grand slam, but the Dodgers couldn’t do anything offensively.
With their backs against the wall, the Dodgers were forced to have a bullpen game. No baseball pundit likes a bullpen game since a reliever can have a bad game. Nevertheless, every Dodger reliever was almost perfect. The Dodgers exploded offensively, including home runs by Mookie Betts, Will Smith, and Gavin Lux. While Freddie Freeman and Miguel Rojas couldn’t play due to injuries, their replacements made fabulous defensive plays. The Dodgers forced Game 5.
When people heard the Dodgers were starting Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 5, they were worried. Yamamoto missed almost 3 months during his rookie season because of a strained rotator cuff. When he has been back in September, he has been inconsistent. Nevertheless, before going on the IL, Yamamoto had a fabulous start against the New York Yankees in a playoff atmosphere during June.
Yamamoto was fantastic and had extra velocity on his fastball. He had good control and quieted Tatis and Machado. He gave the Dodgers five innings before turning it to the bullpen, which had performed expertly in the postseason. Alex Vesia has an injured side, forcing him to leave the game before he was scheduled to leave. Kiké Hernández and Teoscar Hernández supplied the offense with two solo home runs.
The Dodgers showed much heart during the NLDS. Many baseball experts think the Dodgers will win the World Series if they beat the Padres. However, the New York Mets have been a surprising team. The Mets have played with much heart, but they don’t have much playoff experience. The Dodgers have it all, except a strong starting rotation. If the Dodgers’ bullpen continues pitching almost flawlessly, the Dodgers will beat the Mets.
