™The Dodgers Are Imploding in the NLCS. Pathetic.
The Dodgers are down 3-0 to the Brewers. If they don't win Game 4 (and 5, and 6, and 7), it's bye-bye, baby for the Superteam.
.jpg){kind=link}
The Dodgers are on the brink of being swept in the NLCS.
In Game 3 of the NLCS, the Brewers hammered Blake Snell for four runs, who gave up back-to-back bombs without getting an out in the 7th, when the bullpen came in to put on a leaky tourniquet. Snell was actually pitching well until he came out for that last inning, giving up just one run through six: a Jackson Chourio dinger on the very first pitch of the game (first-pitch homers are considered an omen by the baseball Gods). The bullpen then gave up a run in the 8th and 9th, culminating in a 6-2 whimper of a loss.
The Dodgers now have to bring home four straight to make a three-peat possible.
There is hope for the Dodgers, but the odds are abysmal. The only team to have made such a comeback in the MLB postseason was the 2004 Boston Red Sox over the Yankees. And of the 42 teams to go up 3-0 in the postseason, 31 swept. Just last year, the Dodgers became the 31st, sweeping the Brewers.
How could the comeback happen?
Tyler Glasnow would have to pitch a long-form gem to give the bullpen rest in Game 4. Skubal and Yamamoto couldn’t even get through a combined 8 innings in Games 1 & 2, so the stable has been tested already. If the Dodgers can squeak through Game 4, the wonder staff of four aces will get a shot at redemption, as Yamamoto will be back on the mound in Game 5.
The biggest issue is the offense. And there was a glimmer of form from slumping Ohtani and Smith, each with a hit in Game 3. But even after today, Ohtani is hitting .182 this postseason. Smith is batting a paltry .074 (wow). Freeman is hardly better: still on the interstate at .192, but a few of those made it over the fence. If the offense doesn’t turn it around, the Dodgers’ season ends tomorrow. Even if they do, they’ll need a miracle to run the table.
The Dodgers are almost unquestionably the most talented roster in baseball. Talented enough to take four straight against a murderous bullpen, one of those against perhaps the world’s best starting pitcher (Jacob Misiorowski)? I would say no. Brewers sweep.
Comments 0