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Dodger Baseball

Possible Postseason Foes

                      With only 18 games left on the schedule, 9 of them against division foes, I thought we might look at the teams LA could possibly face in the playoffs. They are once again in a dead heat with the Phillies for the best record in the majors, but due to the tiebreaker, they would be the #2. seed. I think this works in their favor since the #1 seed has to play the winner of the Padre-Az series as of now. LA would play the winner of whoever meets Milwaukee. Right now, that could be the Mets, or the Braves.    

                                                                                                Atlanta Braves

                      The Braves have gone 5-5 in their last 10 games, and the Mets have won 10 0f their last 11. They are the hot team in the league right now. Like the Dodgers, the Braves are missing some key pieces, especially in their rotation. But they really miss Ronald Acuna’s bat. They lost 1-0 last evening to the Reds. Their big hitters are not getting the job done. 

                  Marcel Ozuna is by far their best hitter right now. But after leading the NL in RBIs for most of the season, he is now behind Ohtani, 101 and Adames 101, with 98. He has 37 homers, good for second behind Ohtani. But most of the rest of the once potent offense are having down years. Olson is hitting .233 with 25 homers, Riley, .256 with 19. Even Orlando Arcia is having a down year. They are so plagued by injuries that they traded with the Giants for Cavan Biggio. 

                 On the pitching side, they have one true Ace, Chris Sale. 16-3, 2.38 ERA, 213 Ks in 167 innings. Morton is 8-8 4.05 ERA, Freid 9-8, 3.35 ERA, and then Reynaldo Lopez, who has been a savior of sorts, 8-5 2.04 ERA. But unlike many teams this season, the Braves staff does not give up a lot of home runs. One thing they do not do, is walk a lot of hitters. They do have a solid bullpen led by Raisel Iglesias who has 31 saves in 34 opportunities. The way to beat Atlanta is shut down their hitters. 

                                                                                               New York Mets

                  The Mets are playing great baseball right now. As of today, September 11th, they are in a dead heat with Atlanta for the third and final wild card spot. They are 8-2 over their last 10 games. They have a lot of power. There are 11 Mets with homers in double figures, including 2 with 30 or more, Alonso, Lindor, and 2 with 20 or more. Although they are 7th in the league in offense, they still can put up big numbers on a team. 

                  Their pitching on the other hand, at least the starting pitching, is another animal altogether. Sean Manaea is their best starter, 11-5, 3.53. Luis Severino is the only other starter with at least 10 wins, 10-5, 3.74. Kodai Senga has made only 1 start and went only 5.1 innings. But they have some good arms in the bullpen. Diaz has 17 saves, but also has 6 blown saves. The Mets as a team have 24 blown saves. So, if you can get to their pen, you have a good chance of winning the game. 

                                                                                           San Diego Padres

                The Dodgers are no stranger to the Padres. This season, the Padres have dominated LA in the 10 games they have played so far, (7-3), outscoring LA, 53-43. The Dodgers as a team have 199 homers as of today, the Padres have 169. Padres also have a higher team batting average, .265-.254 than the Dodgers. But the Dodgers have scored more runs. San Diego has one less game remaining than the Dodgers. The lead is 4.5 right now. Believe it or not, the Padres are the only team in the majors who have struck out less than 1000 times, 943. So, they make contact, and that is what makes them dangerous.  There is only 1 .300 hitter on the team, but he in all likelihood will win his second NL batting title. Arraez is hitting .324. Machado, Merrill and Profar, all have 20+ homers. Merrill will most likely be the ROY. For this reason, I hope LA finishes with the second-best record because it means they would not have to play the winner of the Padres-Az wild card series, but instead would play whoever wins the series with Milwaukee -Atlanta-Mets. 

              Dylan Cease has been one of the Padres best pitchers, 12-11 3.71, and then would come Michael King, 12-8 3.10.  Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish just recently returned to the rotation. The Padres bullpen has some very good arms including Matsui, Suarez, and Tanner Scott. Suarez has saved 32 games in 36 opportunities. Needless to say, I would rather see the Padres have to use their best against the D-Backs, who lead the NL in offense, than the Dodgers. They would then have to play Philadelphia. The Dodgers lead the Padres by 5 in the loss column.

                                                                                       Milwaukee Brewers

           The Dodgers have played the Brewers 7 times this season. They went 4-3. The last time they played in July was a 4-game series in Milwaukee. They won the first two games, 5-2 and 7-2. They lost the next two despite scoring 4 runs in each. The first loss was a game started by Buehler that they led 3-0 after the first inning, but Buehler gave the lead back in the bottom of the second. He surrendered the lead in the 4th, and even though LA tied the game in the 7th inning, Milwaukee scored an unearned run off of Honeywell in the bottom of the inning on some shoddy fielding, and LA lost the game. Flaherty gave up 3 runs the next day, the Dodgers came back and eventually took the lead 4-3. Then Hudson melted down in the bottom of the eighth and allowed 3 runs for the loss. 

         As it stands right now, the Brewers are 3 games behind the Dodgers for the second-best record in the NL.  Where the Brewers are much better than LA, is in team pitching. As a team, their ERA is 3.58 to the Dodgers 3.85. If they have an Achillies heel, it is that they give up a lot of homers. But they have some very capable starting pitchers as the Dodgers have found out. Freddie Peralta, Collin Rea, and Tobias Myers. They also have a lock down closer in Devin Williams who has saved 10 in 11 chances. He recently returned from the IL. In any case, the Brewers have some very good offensive players, Adames, Contreras, Chourio, who can present problems for your pitching staff. 

                                                                                    Arizona Diamondbacks.

          At the end of August, the Dodgers had a 4-game wraparound series with Arizona, much like they will have against Atlanta from the 12th to the 15th in Atlanta. The games against the Diamondbacks were tense and played in a playoff atmosphere. Game one became a bullpen game because of the injury to Kershaw’s toe. The Dodger offense had jumped on Zac Gallen for 3 runs. Ohtani doubled, was moved to third on a Betts ground out, and then Freeman hit a 2-run homer. But Kershaw gave those runs right back and Kelly made things worse allowing 2 more in the bottom of the third. The Dodgers eventually went up 10-5 with the capper being an Ohtani homer in the 8th. But the Dodger pen almost blew the game allowing 4 runs in the 9th. 

      They would end up winning game 2 despite Stone only going 5 innings and allowing 5 runs. They did something that had never been done in Dodger history when Ohtani, Betts and Freeman homered consecutively in the top of the 1st inning. But it would take a 2-run 8th to secure the 8-6 win. Game 3 was a blowout by Arizona. Game 4 they jumped out to a lead and after scoring 8 runs in the 7th and 8th innings, they secured the series win, and also won the season series.

   But those games showed that there is no quit in that Arizona team, plus they were without two of their best hitters in Christian Walked and Ketel Marte. This is a dangerous team offensively, and on any given day, their pitching can be equally as dangerous. Gallen is clearly their best starting pitcher, but in his career, he has only beaten LA in the regular season once. He is also the only starter with an ERA below 4. 3.55. Kelly has an even worse career against LA, he has never beaten them in the regular season. But both beat LA last year in the playoffs. I would much rather face their third string than those two guys in games that really mean something. 

    Paul Sewald was their closer, but he has been replaced by Justin Martinez who has only blown 1 save. But make no mistake, there are some very good arms in their pen, including Ginkel and Thompson. Let them and the Padres battle it out. Offensively, they are the best in the NL, and they have some boppers in the lineup. Marte leads the team in homers with Suarez and Walker right behind. Pederson is their primary DH and is hitting .282 with 22 bombs. Corbin Carroll seems to have gotten his mojo back and has raised his average to .229. He was well below the Mendoza line going into June. Gurriel Jr provides solid defense and some pop in his bat. Defensively, this is a very good team. What did surprise me is that the Dodgers have actually stolen more and been caught less. 

    So, there is a little info on the teams that at this point could be in the playoffs that the Dodgers would meet in their first round of games this playoff season. They would only face the Phillies if both teams make it to the NLCS. Then for me, it would be time for some payback. Phillies 5-1 against LA this year, and the last couple of times the Dodgers faced them in the playoffs, they have lost. 

                                                                                                   Minor League Scores

                                OKC played the second game of their six-game series against Tacoma and earned a 7-6 win in 10 innings. It is OKC’s next to last series of the year. They have 10 games left in their season. Duplantier started and went 5.0 innings giving up 4 hits, 3 walks and 1 run. He struck out 6. OKC scored 4 in the bottom of the first on 4 hits, one a homer by Trejo, and a three-base error on a hit by Outman. 

                                 Henriquez relieved in the 6th and gave up 1 hit, 4 walks and 2 runs. Gowdy, 1.2 2 hits, 2 walks and a run. Hernandez went 1/3rd of an inning allowing nothing. Feyereisen pitched 1 inning allowing 2 runs on 2 hits and striking out 1 blowing the save. Rooney pitched a clean 10th and got his 4th win. 

                                OKC got 8 hits, Avans, Lipcius and Hoese all had 2 each. Hoese drove in 4 runs. 

                                Jarrod Karros started for Tulsa against Wichita and went 3 clean innings striking out 3. He was followed by Campos who went 4 innings allowing 3 hits a run, a walk and he struck out 7. Suarez pitched a clean 8th, striking out 1. Tulsa rode a 5 run fourth inning to take the lead. They had 5 hits in the inning, 2 of them doubles, and 4 stolen bases including a steal of home. 

                               Wichita shut them down after that. Wichita scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th, for a 5-3 final. 

 

                                     Arizona won big again against the Rangers, but both Az and the Dodgers have Thursday off as LA heads for a wrap-around 4 game series in Atlanta. The Dodgers simply need to take care of their own business and not watch the scoreboard. As long as they keep winning, it does not matter what the other teams do. San Diego lost to the Mariners. The Dodgers did what they had to do, but it wasn’t pretty, and it was far from easy. They scored a run in the 7th and 2 in the 8th on Edman’s second homer of the game, his 4th in two days. The lead stays at five over Arizona and they now lead the Padres by 5.5. Kopech, who is usually pretty good, walked 3 batters in the 9th allowing a run without a hit. He threw 22 pitches, only 8 were strikes. But he got the save, and Vesia got his 3rd win. Kopech’s save was his 13th. Day off for travel to Atlanta.  Dodgers will pitch Knack Friday versus Schwellenbach. Flaherty gets Sale on Saturday, Buehler against Morton on Sunday, and Yamamoto faces off with Fried on Monday. Critical four game series. By the way, the home plate umpire tonight, Manny Gonzalez, seriously needs his eyes checked. He was atrocious. 

 

 

 

 

Born June 14th, 1948, in Los Angeles California. AKA The Bear

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Duke Not Snider

Did anybody expect power from Tommy Edman? Certainly not me…
Nice to see the power from Will and Max too. Shohei? That’s to be expected.
I’m not worried about which teams the Dodgers might play, but I am worried about who will be playing for the Dodgers.
Right now, it looks like the playoff rotation might be Yamamoto, Flaherty, Knack and Buehler. Bobby Miller just seems too volatile. We are waiting on Glasnow, Stone, Kershaw, maybe even Gonsolin. Even with the uncertainty, I feel better about the rotation today than I did a year ago.

Dave

Gonsolin just pitched 2 shutout innings for OKC. In that respect he is ahead of Glasnow, Kershaw and Stone.
We’ll see how Knack pitches on Friday but if he is pitching better than Buehler.I wouldn’t hesitate to put him on the playoff roster. Many rookies have pitched in the playoffs and done well, especially as the #4 starter.

Bluto

Roberts has said the team doesn’t consider Gonsolin a potential starter this season.

Michael Norris

He also said Miller will get one more start, probably in Miami on Tuesday.

Dave

Makes me wonder what they are thinking. If he is pitching in minor league games w success and feels good why not?

dodgerram

Kopech made me stress out in that 9th inning. Half of the save should go to Will Smith for cutting that runner down at 3b. Horrible decision by the Cubs runner to even try it in that situation. Kopech was on the ropes and about to implode. But we take it!
Bobby Miller and Buehler are not only losing games by giviing up runs in bunches but they are killing this bullpen every outing. With Yamamoto not built up that is 3 starters who can not give you much needed innings. Not sustainable much longer.

Henriquez had his first really wobbly outing last night at OKC. Did not enhance his chances for a late season call up.
5 game lead over ARI plus the tiebreaker with them. A split at ATL would be fine with me.
Ohtani now on pace for 52-53.

Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last edited 2 months ago by dodgerram
Wayne

If the Dodgers must rely on even 2 of Buehler/Miller/Kersh to be post-season SP’s, then their WS aspirations would be ZILTCH.

Wayne

ZILCH!

Badger

As long as we score 10 we should be ok.

dodgerram

Roster analysis:
The hitters are pretty much set. If everybody is healtyh the decision for the 13 spots will probably come down to KK, CT3 and Pages for two spots.

Pitching is a lot more difficult. 13 spots to fill.
Right now I see 4 guys who are prime candidates to be taken off of the current 14 men for the playoff roster.
Miller , Buehler, Grove, Honeywell.
Who should/could take the final 3 spots?
Glasnow.Hopefully, need him badly at the top of our rotation.
That leaves 2 spots open.

Other than the 4 players mentioned above there are Wrobleski, Kershaw, Stone, Casparius., Henriquez.
Who do you take from that group with the assumption that Stone and CK likely are out for the season ?

IMHO I give Henriquez a look for sure. You just don´t betray yourself from leaving an arm like that on the sidelines. Not with our pitching staff in dire straits like that.
Lots of talk among the experts about Henriquez. For example listen to Dodger heads from today (around the 37 minute mark).

Wrobleski ? Got hit hard his last outings but he is a lefty who throws hard. Dodgers could really use another lefty in their bullpen with Banda breaking his hand.
Tell him to go out there for an inning or two and put it all on the line what you got.

Tough decisions to make with all those injuries and question marks.
How I see it as of today;
Glasnow. Yamamoto.Flaherty.Knack as starters.
Kopech.Phillips.Hudson.Treinen.Vesia.Brasier.Wrobleski.Henriquez plus Buehler as the long releiver/mop up guy.

Maybe the Catman comes out of nowhere to the rescue?

Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Last edited 2 months ago by dodgerram
Cassidy

Please AF, don’t make me watch another start from Buehler-Miller

Bluto

Just one more from Miller, in Miami I think.

Badger

Yep.

Dave

Don’t forget about Gonsolin. He just pitched 2 shutout innings for OKC. That makes him more ready than Kershaw, Stone and even Glasnow.

Dionysus

Graterol

dodgerram

Yeah, I missed him. Thanx.

Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!

Bklyn2LA57

Sending Miller out to give up 6 runs every game has got to be killing this kid’s confidence.

Michael Norris

Miller is killing Miller’s confidence. His fastball is getting hammered, and he just can’t get that out of his head that major leaguers can time those things. He shook Smith off three times just so he could groove his heater to Bellinger, who promptly hit it over the fence for three runs. But what really is killing him is his lack of command. He is walking way too many hitters. As a matter of fact, the entire staff has walked too many lately. They walked 10 last night, and more than a few of them scored. Cubs scored 8 runs on 6 hits. You reduce the walks; you reduce the runs.

OhioDodger

Joe Kelly begins rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Thursday.

I don’t want to ever see Kelly pitch for the Dodgers again.


Last edited 2 months ago by OhioDodger
Cassidy

Catman would be a game changer at #4 starter if he comes back as good as he was before the injury

OhioDodger

Yes he would. I think there are a number of better options than Guano Joe Kelly.

Badger

Knack, Wrobleski, Miller, Buehler, Flaherty, Yamamoto, maybe Glasnow, maybe Kershaw. These are the starting pitchers to win the Division. I think the team’s offense needs to continue hitting like they did last night.

The rotation is in trouble. It has been for some time. The bullpen is fatigued. They will need everyone, including Kelly, just to limp to the finish line.

This is one year I can see some days off before the playoffs start helping this team.

OhioDodger

Yep. If the offense tanks like last year, it won’t matter who our starting pitchers are. Still don’t want Kelly back.

Badger

It’s not a question of want it’s a question of need. I would think Roberts would rather not use Kelly but looking around it would appear he may have to. The starting staff is currently not a strong group and the bullpen is overworked. This team needs arms. Gonsolin and Graterol, if they can pitch, would help a lot. Kelly? Hold your nose and put him out there.

Last edited 2 months ago by Badger
porpoiseboy

We get it, on to the next subject

OhioDodger

 😂  🖕 

Michael Norris

If he wasn’t in their plans, why would they even send him out on a rehab assignment? Mariachi Joe will be on the playoff roster.

OhioDodger

You’re probably right. But, I hope not.

Michael Norris

Hope is all you have; you know the team loves the guy. And, if he is on one of his rolls, he is as nasty as they come.

OhioDodger

I am just hoping for the best with whatever the Dodgers run out there.

Watford Dodger

 

AF did some great work at the Deadline without giving up too much.
Flaherty, Edman and Kopech improved this team massively.
No Miller, no Buehler and no Kershaw in the Playoffs please.
Lets hope Stone can come back and pitch where he left off, if not I’m definitely using Knack as my #4 as opposed to any of the above.
Just need Glasnow now…..

Phil Jones

What an odd game. I’ll take the win but when you have to score a 10 spot to squeak out a win, you’ve got pitching issues. The Cubs scored 24 runs in 3 games. Miller and Buehler gave up 11 earned runs, on 14 hits and 4 homers in their 9.1 innings. Hardly, encouraging auditions for the post season roster.
SSDD for Miller; no command. 90 pitches to get through 4.1 innings with 4 walks and 2 bombs.  
Miller went about being shitty with a little different twist. He got run support.
But no lead was safe. That would be it with Miller, for me with Miller for the season. I’ve seen enough.
On the plus side – Miggy Ro makes every friggin play with ease.
Pete Crow Armstrong is really a special centerfielder.
When Kopech was on about ball 8, I’m yelling at my TV, Throw Something Else! See if you can find a release point with something besides a 99 mph fastball that’s all over the place.
If there was a dumber baseball decision then Suzuki thrown out attempting to steal third with one out in the 9th, I don’t remember it. Stunning; and Thank You.

Phil Jones

Yeah, Manny Gonzales was beyond terrible behind the dish. He’s a bad joke. Umpire Scorecard has him missing 19 pitches last night. I’ve never seen 20 so he’s tied for the record.
92% called balls were true strikes and 83% of called strikes were balls.

Michael Norris

Bellinger’s homer was all on Miller. He shook Smith off until he could throw his fastball, which every hitter is tattooing.

Therealten

Playoff pitching staff:

  1. Glasnow
  2. yamamoto
  3. flaherty
  4. stone (if healthy)
  5. knack
  6. kopech
  7. phillips
  8. vesia
  9. treinen
  10. graterol
  11. hudson
  12. brasier
  13. gonsolin

probably kelly, kershaw, buehler will figure somewhere but not for me. Banda if healthy. Of course depends on health n who gets hurt next.

Michael Norris

Banda is very doubtful with a fractured hand. Kelly will be on the postseason roster; they would not have him rehabbing if he wasn’t going to pitch. Knack won’t make it unless one of the starters does not come back. He is no reliever, and they only need 4 starters. Right now, the three starter locks are Yamamoto, Flaherty and Knack. Glasnow needs at least one rehab start, but OKC only has 9 games left in which he could get that. Kershaw is throwing. It all depends on how his toe feels. His arm is fine.

Badger

Glasnow could rehab start with the big club. Maybe after we clinch.

Kelly will likely be on the playoff roster. Why would Gonsolin be pitching now if they didn’t intend to use him? If he’s ok, but maybe not built up, I’d rather have him pitching one or two innings than Kelly. I can’t help but wonder what the playoff bullpen plan is.

Michael Norris

I could see Kelly coming in with 2 outs and runners on. He can be scary, but I have also seen the guy just snuff out rally’s. He should never have pitched that second inning when Kersh went down in Arizona. He is a one inning guy period. Gonsolin could easily pitch 2 or 3 innings. They could use him as an opener to save some arms towards the end of the season.

Phil Jones

Joe or Joseph?

Michael Norris

Mariachi Joe.

Singing the Blue

Why do you say Knack is no reliever? He’s been used in relief twice and I think he’d be a much better option for multiple relief innings than anyone else we have who’s healthy right now.

He may be needed as a starter for the playoffs but if not, I’d have him on the roster as the long man. Better option than Grove, Honeywell, Buehler, Miller or anyone else I can think of.

WHIP under 1.00, 4 k’s per bb. Those are excellent numbers.

Bobby

Agree, Knack is the perfect multi inning guy for October to cover a short start

Dionysus

I’ll be mad if Knack isn’t on the postseason roster.

Bluto

There’s going to be a few longer-inning guys in the playoffs.

No pitcher, except in edge cases, is going through the order 3x.

So a Kershaw and Gonsolin for 3 innings, a Knack for 2. That could definitely ALL be in play.

Last edited 2 months ago by Bluto
Singing the Blue

Of the 3 guys you mention Knack is the one who has gone the most innings the most often so why does he only get 2 while CK and Catman get 3?

Bluto

If the starter goes 4 to 5 innings only then there’s only 2-3 piggyback innings before the true bullpen arms

Michael Norris

Simple, with the way things are now, Knack is one of the few healthy arms who could give them at least 5 innings, for that reason, I think he is one of the starting four. Yamamoto, Flaherty, Knack and pick em. Neither Miller nor Buehler seems ready. So, we need to hope the other starter is Glasnow. Kersh still having toe issues. Stone is very iffy.

Michael Norris

The Dodgers are already reaping the rewards financially for signing Ohtani. Last season they made one-half million dollars on outfield signage. This year it is up over 5 million dollars. Attendance has jumped too even with the inflated prices. So that means concessions and souvenir’s also.

Michael Norris

Still think the Dodgers need at least one more lefty in the pen come October. If Banda, who is on the 15day is not available, not sure who else they could use. Kershaw, Wrobleski, Banda and Vesia only lefties on the 40-man. Rooney and Dreyer at AAA. Az has 4 switch hitters including Marte, 3 of their OF bats are lefties as is their primary DH, Joc. San Diego is more righty heavy, but three of their better contact hitters are left-handed. Most of the Brewer’s power comes from the right side with Yelich gone. Braves power is pretty split down the middle. LA gets one break this weekend. Riley is on the 15-day IL. Most of the Met’s power is from the right side, but Lindor, a switch hitter like Marte leads the team in homers. Harper and Schwarber, two leftie bats the big power for the Phillies with Bohm and Castellanos from the right side. Turner also has some pop.

Bluto

Perhaps validating AF’s superstar or value strategy: Mookie Betts has amassed 5.2 bWAR in just 100 games. Fourth in NL among position players. Still a great year, but the injury derailed what could have been another amazing season. 

He also leads the NL in fWAR for the time when he was active.

and Ohtani has a legit shot at 50-50.

TennisMenace (TM)

I don’t feel good about playing most of these teams without our good SPs. Flahtery and a recovering Yamamoto may not be enough. Oh well….we’ve gotten used to being “one and done” of late, so at least it won’t be a shock if that happens again.

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