NFL
By George Lopez
The 2023 season for the Los Angeles Dodgers came to a disappointing end as they were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS. They were outplayed in all facets of the game by the Diamondbacks and did not come close to resembling the team that won 100 games this season. The Dodgers enter the offseason again trying to figure out what went wrong in the postseason.
All season, the Dodgers were led offensively by Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. The Diamondbacks held them to a combined 1-21 in the series with the one hit being an infield single. As a team, they batted .177 with 23 strikeouts and only 1 homerun. During the regular season, the Dodgers would grind out at-bats and were a well-disciplined team in terms of not chasing pitches out of the strike zone. In the NLDS, the Dodgers chased too many pitches out of the strike zone and had a lot of swinging at first-pitch at-bats. The plate discipline they showed all season was nowhere to be found. After scoring 906 runs during the regular season and were held to 6 runs in 3 games by the Diamondbacks pitching.
The L.A. entered the NLDS with a starting pitching staff they did not envision. The Dodgers starters Clayton Kershaw, Bobby Miller, and Lance Lynn were a big disappointment in the NLDS. In 3 games, the starters pitched less than a combined 5 innings and allowed 13 earned runs. Kershaw had by far the worst start of his career, lasting only 1/3 of an inning while giving up 6 runs. The Dodgers entered the NLDS knowing Kershaw would be limited to 5 innings or possibly 6, depending on his pitch count. Kershaw was not sharp from the onset as the Diamondbacks jumped on everything he threw with the big blow being a 3 run home run by catcher Gabriel Moreno.
The Dodgers turned to rookie Bobby Miller in game 2. Miller had shown tremendous poise throughout the regular season. Pitching in the biggest game of his young career, Miller was not at his best as the nerves of postseason baseball were evident. Miller had difficulty locating the strike zone and allowed 3 runs in the first inning. In a must-win game 3, the Dodgers got the White Sox version of Lance Lynn who allowed an MLB playoff-record 4 home runs in one inning. When the Dodgers needed their starting pitching to be at their best, they were not able to produce.
What’s Next?
All season, this team found a way to get timely hits and generate 2 out runs. In the NLDS, the Dodgers were not able to get the big hit to sustain a possible rally. Since winning the 2020 World Series, the Dodgers have been eliminated from the playoffs by teams that won less than 90 games. The working the count and not chasing pitches out of the strike zone discipline shown during the regular season disappears. Next season, the club will be expected to make the playoffs. Will the Dodgers find themselves repeating their recent history of a disappointing end to their season?
