LOS ANGELES — This is the reason for the season.
There was a time not so long ago when postseason baseball seemed aspirational at best. Remember the acrimonious negotiations that led to “Tell us when and where?”
But Major League Baseball emerged from that June gloom, marched into empty stadiums and forged on through intake testing, daily testing, protocols, coronavirus outbreaks on multiple teams and blocks of postponed games.
All for this. No, not the chance to crown a champion in this most irregular year — the chance to cash a big, fat check for postseason TV revenue, making up for the millions (billions?) lost to the pandemic.
“I would say it’s been a pretty successful season, getting to this point and getting to the playoffs,” veteran Justin Turner said Tuesday as the Dodgers prepared to face the Milwaukee Brewers in the best-of-three, made-for-TV Wild Card Series beginning Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.
“I was probably in that category where I was optimistic that we were going to have a season, but there was definitely some doubt whether or not it was going to happen. So to be sitting here today, watching playoff baseball as the American League kind of kicks off their wild-card round, I would say that we did a good job and I commend everyone for taking it serious and being responsible and making good choices and allowing us to get to this point.”
By that measure, it has indeed been a pretty successful season for the Dodgers. They avoided any of the potholes presented by the pandemic and are to be commended for that.
By the traditional measure — their won-loss record — it has also been a successful season. They thoroughly dominated their corner of baseball’s balkanized schedule, posting a 43-17 record — a .717 winning percentage that translates to a record-tying 116 wins in the pre-pandemic world of 162-game seasons.
Now comes the reason for their season. Will any of it — the risks and the sacrifices — be worth it for any payoff short of a World Series championship?
“Specifically to the Dodgers … it’s kind of World Series or bust every year,” Dodgers manager Dave Robert said. “This year, I think it certainly would be more special, I think — if it could even be possible after talking about winning a championship. But we’ve all gone through a lot. The whole industry has.
“But I think, for us, right now we’re just focused on the Brewers and we’ll see what happens.”
By throwing the postseason door open to 16 teams (including some with losing records during the regular season), forcing a dominant division winner like the Dodgers to expose themselves to a potential upset in an extra round of playoffs, MLB has added an even stronger than usual anything-can-happen element to this postseason.
“Baseball, one of the best things we do is we have an incredibly difficult regular season … and if you play well through that whole thing, you should absolutely be rewarded for it. This format — and we did not play 162 games — does not reward that,” said Craig Counsell who managed the Brewers to a 29-31 record this year and a fourth-place finish in the five-team National League Central.
“We have the same scenario as a 1 seed.”
Over the past seven falls, the Dodgers have become painfully familiar with the unexpected ways postseason scenarios can go awry — from Hanley Ramirez’s broken rib and Daniel Murphy stealing an uncovered third base to trash cans and 10th-inning grand slams.
“We feel like we can hang with them,” Counsell said of the Dodgers. “I think we’re going to present them some challenges that I think are really good for us. We’re here. It’s a three-game series. I like our chances. I don’t necessarily see it like that (being a big underdog).”
The biggest challenge presented by the Brewers is the two-headed bullpen hammer Counsell can wield if his team gets a lead. One is familiar (Josh Hader), the other is not. Rookie right-hander Devin Williams has been a revelation, striking out 53 of the 100 batters he faced in 27 innings this season. Major league hitters went 8 for 89 against him this season.
The Dodgers outscored their opponents 122-66 in the seventh inning or later during the regular season. But it might be better not to count on that with Counsell able to use Hader and Williams in each game of a three-game series.
“It’s important. It’s really important I think especially with this bullpen,” Roberts said of not playing from behind. “They’re going to rely heavily on those two guys specifically. I’m certain of it. So to get a lead early, the middle innings, I think is imperative because, yeah, I don’t see those guys losing too many games late with those two arms.”
The Dodgers will counter with an offense that led the National League in, like, everything this season. Past postseasons have been undone by the disappearance of key bats — Corey Seager is a career .203 hitter in the postseason, Cody Bellinger .178. But they believe the 2020 version, infused with 100 percent more Mookie Betts, has enough depth to absorb individual slumps.
“I think the depth all the way around,” Roberts said. “We just have a lot of good players that no one or two players need to carry us.”
ALSO
Pinch-running specialist Terrance Gore was at Dodger Stadium working out Tuesday afternoon. Roberts said there is “a good chance” Gore will be on the Dodgers’ 28-man roster for the Wild Card Series. Gore has been part of the player pool at the alternate training site and would have to be added to the 40-man roster in order to be eligible. …
Betts took batting practice during the Dodgers’ workout Tuesday. Betts was removed from Saturday’s game after one inning after he was hit in the left hip by a pitch and did not play in Sunday’s regular-season finale.
Posted by: https://anaheimsigns.com
No comments:
Post a Comment