It took me a full week to get off the mat and write after the San Diego debacle. Sorry about that. I have always found that the most difficult post to write is the first one after being eliminated. Multiply that fact by about ten and that has been my mindset for a week.
Usually, when the Dodger season ends prematurely, I go through that mourning period that most loyal fans go through. This year was different, though. I simply had no desire to even look at Dodger news. I certainly wasn’t going to watch the other series’ that remain. This one stung. This one caused real heartache—more than the others.
All seemed to be falling into place this post season. The Mets and Braves were eliminated. The road to the World Series had all appearances of being easier. San Diego had been a foe that the team had manhandled all season long, even after their mid-season moves. It all was too perfect. They just needed to execute, and it didn’t happen.
I could see it coming as soon as the Dodgers underperformed in game 2, and then things just spiraled out of control. We watched Roberts start making those post season mistakes again. Removing pitchers after five, pinch hitting for Barnes (the only guy with two hits in the game) and giving up the DH. Not starting Bellinger against a righty. There were other questionable moves. Why rehash them now? The season is finished.
San Diego finally had a home field advantage with their SD County only ticket sale policy and it was as if the Dodgers had never played before a visiting crowd ever. Deer in the headlight looks. Guys giving up even though the game was still in reach. Lackluster ABs, physical and mental errors on the defensive side of the ball. A lack of spirited play. The guys were flat, and they couldn’t come out of it. How many runners were left in scoring position this series? Once they gave up the lead in the 7th inning of game four, there was no fight left in these guys.
This could have been a season for the ages. They were right there on the precipice of greatness, and they couldn’t get it done. Favored by most pundits. They had dominated the season, almost from start to finish. We discussed all of that. They set records and looked well rested and prepared for post season play. It was supposed to be a season that would be forever remembered. Well, they assured us of that, but for all the wrong reasons. Now, it will be remembered as the biggest disappointment in the history of the franchise.
When you win 111 games, you are supposed to finish on top. When your Pythagorean record is even better than those 111 wins, when your run differential is the highest ever for a National League team, when you lead the league in ERA, when your 2 and 3 hitters led the league in hits, and runs, etc., etc., you are supposed to win it all. These guys got outplayed by a team they dominated all year. They were outclassed by a team that outhustled and outsmarted them. The Padres didn’t blow them out. They didn’t even have very many clutch hits. What they did was perform with confidence and wait it out. They took out their Goliath from the North and they did so with a lot of joy before a raucous home crowd.
As the final outs approached, I couldn’t help but wonder if this is the last that we see of Cody Bellinger in a Dodger uniform. Or Chris Taylor, Clayton Kershaw, Max Muncy and/or Justin Turner. It is probably a foregone conclusion that Trea Turner is history. Andrew Heaney is also most likely gone and possibly Tyler Anderson. We just may have seen the end of that Dodger dominance that we experienced for the past decade.
I realize that the cupboard is not bare and that the farm system is fairly well stocked, but prospects are simply that – prospects. For every Seager, Bellinger (early years), Urias, Buehler and WIll Smith that come up, there are a flurry of guys like McKinstry, Kendall, Sands, Dennis Santana, Peters, Raley, and Zach Lee. The front office will probably have to move on and make decisions about underperforming veterans that make a lot of money. That makes up some players with a lot of post season experience that may be let go, and some have performed well on the big stage before. What happened to those guys? This was such a debacle.
Last year the critics claimed that the Dodgers were gassed and dead tired by the time they started the NLCS. I am totally on board with that. The Giants took a lot out of them. This year they were determined to not be in that same position, and they weren’t. They clinched early. They were well rested. They were not injury-free, but many major components were healthy. They simply lost their edge in those final three weeks of the season. Perhaps there is a comfortable medium between how they handled 2021 and 2022. They obviously haven’t found it yet. How do you find that? I’d like to know who has the formula.
Is finding that “comfortable medium” on the front office and Friedman? His amdinistration built a 111-win team. It wasn’t three weeks ago that most were poking fun of AJ Preller and his “overspending” for the likes of Bell, Drury, Hader and Soto only to fall 22 games out of first place. Now look at them, they blasted through the first two rounds of the playoffs. THe NLCD doesn’t look too promising to th few would have predicted them to make it this far when postseason plkay began. How quickly the tides turn.
Billy Beane was known as a genius GM for the regular season records his team would have with a miniscule payroll, but they never could win a post season series. Is Friedman like that, but with the money to spend? We all know he knows how to build a franchise of strength, but there comes a time when he can only do so much. The guys on the field have to handle the pressure in the post season before the entire world. Now there are writers out there like Plaschke that are delegitimizing the 2020 season because it wasn’t played before fans. We will continue hearing the haters out there that will say they haven’t won a true World Series since 1988? That is inevitable.
Is there a positive in all of this? It’s a reach, but I can think of a few possible ones.
- Had they ascended to the World Series and lost to the Astros, the sting would have been even more bitter.
- We can hope that this early exit lights a fire in Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman who will vow to not let this happen again with a renewed vigor. I believe they are vets and have enough poride to overcome this disappointing setback.
- The off-season will shake things up, which means we will likely see new faces and new approaches.
- Perhaps there is something to the Aaron Judge rumors. As of this writing, the Yankees are on the verge of elimination down 3-0 to Houston.
- No shift next year will mean that Bellinger and Muncy’s averages raise 50 points. Do we really want to see them do it in another uniform?
- Dave Roberts will refrain from predicting a World Series victory in 2023. He attempted to pull a “Pa Riley” this year and it probably wasn’t a good motivating tool.
- For the first time in many years, Spring Training will be really interesting as young stud arms attempt to make the pitching staff. Gavin Stone sticking out as the most obvious choice.
- Unlike last year, the “hot stove” will actually probably be cooking with some news this off-season.
- Next season, when the Dodgers fall far short of their 111-win plateau with I don’t know…say 89 wins? They should be in great shape for a long post season run.
- The San Francisco Giants still are awful. And speaking of the Giants….see below.
Precisely 5 minutes after the Dodgers were eliminated, I received the following facebook post from a moronic former co-worker of mine who does this every year after the Dodgers are eliminated. Based on his typo, I figure worked on it for days.
“The greatest CHOKE (upset) of all time. Couldn’t happen to a better ballclub, They should consider resigninging (sic) D. Roberts for another 10 years! What can I say…..GO GIANTS!!!!!”
I am tempted to post the guy’s name and email address here. Nah, can’t go that far…but it is so tempting.
Lot’s of interesting stuff to unpack here, Evan.
But first, Congratulations on your first blog post here without my help! I knew you could do it.
Yes, I expect to see Gavin Stone in the rotation next year. .. maybe not outta the gate, but shortly thereafter. Gavin started 25 games last year and pitched 122 innings. He’s ready to step up to 150+. He just turned 24 and he has the stuff to be a #2.
The Dodgers will not give the QO to anyone. Anderson will be offered a 3 year/$36 million deal… He might get a better offer, but he will be back unless it is a lot more.
No to Verlander and Hell No to deGrom.
Muncy is signed for 2023, so he will be here.
I could see AF try and sign Bellinger to a $10 million contract with incentives that could take it to $20 million. The question is: Would Belli sign? If he did, that would be acceptable to me.
AF is not going to pay JT $16 Million… maybe $8 – 10 Million. Will JT Retire… or sign?
Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman should spend a couple of weeks with Michael Jordon and pick his brain on leadership.
The Dodgers will win 100+ games next year.
I hope I am wrong about Lux playing SS.
After further review:
Lineup:
1. Lux SS
2. Betts RF
3. Freeman 1B
4. Smith C
5. Muncy 3B
6. Vargas LF
7. Turner/Rios DH
8. Bellinger CF
9. Busch/Taylor 2B
Rotation:
1. Urias
2. May
3. Anderson
4. Gonsolin
5. Stone
Closers: Vesia and Phillips
That lineup would look much, much better if the Dodgers somehow could pray away Arenado from St. Louis.
Need a big RH bat plus he would strenghen the defense immensely.
Would put Muncy at DH. Would not resign JT, his bat and wheels have gotten sloooooow.
The pitching , even without CK , looks solid. Philllipps has to be the closer next season IMHO.
Payroll would be considerably lower than this season.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It would be great if Lux is able to play SS, but I don’t think we should count on it.
Lux’s offense is also a concern. During the first half of the season, he was living up to the hype–but he really dropped off.
Should Lux bat lead off? Maybe.
I’d prefer Mookie for a few reasons:
Mostly, he’s just a superior baserunner–considered one of the best leadoff hitters in the game. The combination of instincts and speed is hard to top. Stealing bases isn’t as important as getting great jumps, making good reads and getting the extra base. He puts pressure on the defense.
Plus, it’s always nice when I guy with great HR potential gets an extra AB. He was among the league leaders in slugging. His BA and on-base % was down, but circled the bases 35 times and started as 2B 40 times.
If we see the Lux of the first half, he’d slot nicely where Trea was in the lineup, assuming that Trea is gone.
So, just for grins….
Betts CF
Lux 2B
Judge RF
Freeman 1B
Smith C
Muncy DH
Outman/Thompson LF
Vargas 3B
Amaya SS
If Vargas really can’t play 3B, Muncy can keep that role (assuming his bat is really fixed.) Arenado would be ideal, but I think Judge will be the target. This makes sense if Belli is cut loose. (And maybe Judge should bat second and Lux drop to 8th.)
If Muncy fully returns to top form, he’s a good no. 2 hitter because of his plate discipline.
Of course if AF can’t land Judge or Arenado, perhaps he’ll enter the Shohei sweepstakes if the Angels flop again,
Wait til next year…
Thanks for the tutorial Mark.
I see you make no mention of Trevor Bauer in the rotation but I figure he’s in play as well since he is still under contract through the end of 2023. With the absence of Buehler until probably September and of Kershaw for good, I could see him playing a key role if the team is willing to patch things up with the right hander.
The only reason I did not include Bauer is that I expect him to win his appeal and MLB will appeal, and this could be in the Federal Courts for a long time. Ultimately, I think Bauer will take MLB and Rob Manfred for over $100,000,000.
Arenado has an opt out clause this offseason.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!
As crazy as it sounds, I don’t see Aaron Judge out of the picture any longer. I could see him being offered one of those short-term record setting contracts, similar to what was given to Trevor Bauer, (but with much higher yearly annual #’s). He will be 31 next year. Will the Yankees offer him a contract that pays him into his 40s?
Of course, there are the Giants, his favorite team growing up, who even have more money off the books to spend.
Zaidi, Freeman and Cashman probably will all be in on him. I wouldn’t put it passed Friedman finding a creative and attractive deal for the slugger that edges out the others.
On the last thread, Scott LADR wrote this:
“Filthiest changeup in baseball? Are you kidding Mark?
You just be on drugs to be this irrational and idiotic. You are by far the biggest blowhard of Dodger writers. By far. I didn’t even say anything about Kahnle, but if you really believe that you’ve got to be the biggest dumbass of all time.
Tommy Kahnle the reliever who has a career of injury and mediocrity, and gave up the first runs of the seventh inning of the Padres rally that knocked the Dodgers put of the playoffs this year. Lolz!!!!
Keep kissing Friedmans ass Mark!”
That’s the kind of stuff I would expect from a 7th grader. Name-calling is his best asset.
Before I kick him off this board, Tommy Kahnle does have one of the best change-ups in baseball… if not the best. You can argue who has it, but he is in the conversation. There are dozens of articles like this:
https://empiresportsmedia.com/mlb/new-york-yankees-tommy-kahnle-featured-on-mlb-coms-best-changeups-list/
Read ’em and weep, Scottie Boy. Go back to your empty blog and take whoever wants to be lead by a small-minded troll with you.
Goodbye! Like Patch said: “Suicide by Cop.”
This is a pretty good example of what his blog turned into. It’s Beavis and Butthead level of baseball discourse.
I read his post looking for ways to break it down, analyze and criticize … but I don’t even know where to start.
Whether Kahnle’s changeup is the filthiest in baseball is not even the point. Should he have been put in that position? He was injured for most of the year and, although he was fairly effective in the only 12 innings he pitched all year, he was asked to pitch in back to back games in a key situation during the playoffs, and when he struggled, Roberts put in another guy who had just come off the IL and asked him to pitch in back to back games in a key situation in the playoffs.
Meanwhile, a fully rested Evan Phillips had been the Dodgers best reliever all year – the guy consistently asked to put out fires – and he was sitting on a stool in the bullpen in the highest leverage moment of the entire year.
If Phillips shuts down that rally, the Dodgers retain their 3-0 lead and win that game, sending the deciding game back to Dodger Stadium with Urias pitching.
We talk about the role of the manager in putting his players in situations where they will succeed. Although it is armchair quarterbacking, I don’t think Roberts did, and whether that was all Roberts or the result of a pow-wow game plan session for certain scenarios beforehand, in retrospect I think it was dumb.
If Roberts was reserving Phillips for a “save situation” it just reinforces just how much I hate the concept of the save.
Scott could’ve attacked the current regime with an argument like that, but his screeds are just a tidal wave of dumb.
I don’t agree the Dodgers lost their edge at the end of the regular season. The Dodgers were fun to watch all year, but all those wins never made me feel like a WS appearance was a lock.
No team is better at platooning during the regular season and the Dodgers’ incredible depth results in many wins against the “have-not” teams. That said, however, you cannot expect to win big-moment games with core players batting less than .200 (Bellinger, Muncy) and another fragile, core player having to be nursed all season (JT).
Adding to the fragility of the situation, we were def unlucky with the health of our pitching staff. I believe a healthy 123 combo of Buehler, Julio, and Gonsolin would have kept runs of the board giving the Dodger bats time to come around. But we did not have that luxury, unfortunately.
Many of us felt uneasy about Trace being a starter. To my earlier point, putting Trace in reg. season games where he can succeed is fine, but the playoffs?
The result of these factors meant the Dodgers margin for error was slim, which meant the role and decisions of the manager would be amplified. We needed Roberts to inspire his players to greatness, and we needed him to deftly handle the pitching staff. In my opinion, he did neither, which is why we lost to an inspired Padres team.
“The result of these factors meant the Dodgers margin for error was slim, which meant the role and decisions of the manager would be amplified. We needed Roberts to inspire his players to greatness, and we needed him to deftly handle the pitching staff. In my opinion, he did neither, which is why we lost to an inspired Padres team.”
Exactly, and well said.
Yes, the odds are against any team winning the WS, but that doesn’t mean we as fans should just back and be fatalistic when clearly the best team in baseball all year just folds. Every play is amplified in a short series against a near peer adversary. Bad decisions have a disproportionate impact.
Yep, the Padres were inspired–and the Dodgers were completely flat and demoralized. But as for Trayce, the stats show that he was the Dodgers’ second-best outfielder during the season, after Mookie.
Belli, Gallo, Taylor, Vargas–they all played poorly, especially toward the end. I was stunned when I noticed how, after 47 ABs, Vargas had walked only once. Plus, he was an outfielder-in-training after playing 3B in OKC.
I think Roberts should have stuck with Belli instead of playing Taylor, partly because of his defense and the occasional power. But all of trend lines of Belli’s offense are down, down, down. Ks are way up, and the contact keeps getting softer.
This was, as AF might put it, an “organizational failure.” And as the head of organization, it was AF who failed to fix the roster, especially the OF.
One more thought. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think young players can be an incredible catalyst for success, and that the Dodgers missed an opportunity to let a player or two make a difference. — not the mention experience for our young talent. Instead, we relied entirely on veterans who had dismal seasons to suddenly turn it on in the playoffs (Bellinger, Muncy, Justin).
For Muncy, the long leash Roberts gave him paid off. With Bellinger, they benched him. With Justin, he had been the best hitter in baseball during the second half, but vanished.
I would’ve like to see Vargas get some at bats.
That is one of the things I think Friedman needs to change.
Outman and Vargas needed to play more last year. I was OK with leaving Busch in AAA.
I am worried about Outman’s proclivity to strike out. It will not improve in MLB, but he should have gotten a longer runway.
I am not worried about a thing with Vargas. 20 HR, 40 doubles, and .300 next year if he gets 500 ABs! I am very HIGH on Miguel.
NL Rookie of the Year Candidate. Put him in LF and leave him alone.
I totally agree about Vargas. He’s a hitter all the way. I would rather he play 3B, unless we sign Nolan, then I might want to see him at second base before LF.
Fully agree with the premise. The “young catalyst” role had been played many times on the Dodgers in recent years: Puig, Joc, Seager, Belli, Smith….
Lux was supposed to be that kind of guy, but he started slow. Started great this season, but not so great down the stretch. Vargas had a chance late. He proved he wasn’t ready–and got picked for the playoff roster anyway.
Go figure.
Fully agree that the Dodgers lacked that youthful energy. Outman supplied plenty in his too-brief visit. Why wasn’t he given that “runway” that Gallo got?
One of many personnel blunders this season.
I felt the same as you Evan. But having felt that down before, I recovered quickly. Right now, I am really enjoying the Phillies giving the Padres a dose of their own medicine. Also, I am getting ready to start my trip home. So there have been many distractions to keep me from getting depressed all over again. I have no clue why the team played so poorly when they should have been inspired to play their best. All year long the rhetoric was we have one goal, and that goal is to win the World Series. What changed? I have to believe, since 3 of the 4 teams who had a bye were eliminated in the DS, that the 5-day layoff was a detriment to all of them. Only the Astros have played like they did not take a day off. The inability, or the plan to limit, starters to 5 innings really stressed the bullpen. What worked during the season, flopped big time in the series. Even though the team generally was very good with 2 outs and men in scoring position, there were times during the year when they simply left a ton of runners on base. They were mediocre in 1 run games, and in extra innings, they were abysmal. I think it was a huge mistake to put so many players on the playoff roster who were either just off of the IL, IE, Treinen, Gonsolin, May, or just plain ineffective, Gallo, Vargas. I think they did the right thing with Kimbrel, but a dis-service to Alberto, who when he was on the field, he played his heart out. But that is just my opinion.
Dissing Alberto may have been a big part of it. Who knows?
Nobody, and that is the conundrum.
Who would have thought the Phillies are 1 win away from the World Series.
I focus a lot on pitching, it’s no secret here, most of you if not all of you know that. For the most part the Dodgers had a very good pitching staff this year. I looked at the pitching staff and if Friedman can sign the key free agent pitchers we have there’s not a lot of room for others. Plus Gavin Stone will take a spot too, I’m high on him.
The position players should and I think will be the main focus for Friedman in the coming months. I see a lot of holes there to be filled.
Think about what it would have been like in the playoffs especially game 4 to have an effective Kimbrel for the 9th inning. It didn’t work out that way because Kimbrel sucked. But it didn’t matter anyways because the hitting sucked and the hitting was the biggest problem.
Anyways, I hope the Phillies win it all because I hate the Padres, Yankees and Astros. I think all of us here feel the same way.
I’m 100% for the Phillies. Astros are a vastly better team, but as we all know, all too well, that doesn’t matter in the playoffs. Despite similar records, the Padres are a better team (in almost every measurable sense) than the Phillies. That didn’t matter. I’d like nothing more than to see Phili take down the Astros.
Well, Scott tried to post again. I think he wanted you all to see it. It was a love letter to me. 😉
Here it is:
“You would know about name calling Mark, as that is all you do. Like when you called my writers all idiots several years ago.
Go Fuck yourself Mark, you are a pathetic piece of shit. I fucking hate you!
Fuck you!!! Fuck you!!! FUCK YOU, YOU ARE A PATHETIC PIECE OF SHIT BLOWHARD EGOMANIAC. Go fuck yourself you motherfucker. Rot in hell piece of shit. Fuck you!!! Fuck you!!!!
Good Luck to you Scott!
Hopefully, you will address your issues.
Please seek help!
I saw you just told Bluto to Fuck Off on your site!
Not the first time, Mark!
Won’t be the last.
I actually appreciate him and his sticking with his blog, but his anti-Friedman and quasi pro-Colletti (Colletti!?!?) was indefensible.
Over time I’ve given Ned more credit. He did a reasonably good job under the circumstances forced upon the team by McCourt. But those weren’t good years to be a Dodger fan.
AF is not beyond criticism, but his arguments were… well, also a bit unhinged.
Reminds of a debate I had years ago about Jerry West. I said he was one of the greatest GMs/executives in basketball history. The retort was “name one big name Star he ever drafted. He sucked, he just had lots of money for free agents?” . All I could do was point out that West consistently pulled productive starters out of (typically) the last 2-4 picks in first round and many starters out of the second. Won 5 titles as GM in the 80s. Traded Vlade Divac for Kobe Bryant. He built the core team that won 3 more titles in the early 2000s. In 2011 took over a Golden State team that had never won anything and they have since become a dynasty nearly on par with the Showtime Lakers. 8 titles as GM/executive and 3 more that he must be given a huge amount of credit for. There are maybe one or two NBA executives/owners in the history of the game who are even in his company.
Of course that wasn’t persuasive. He “sucked” because he never drafted a super star with the lakers. (Kobe doesn’t count, because that was a draft day trade, apparently).
Sometimes there is no amount of logic you can employ to dissuade somebody who is dead set to die on the mountain of a hard and fast narrative. You just have to give up.
That’s fair, I’m probably a little more down on Colletti than the average fan. I found none of his moves particularly inspiring or interesting. The JT deal is such an outlier it makes me hard to believe Colletti saw the launch angle migration.
Even the big Adrian Gonzalez move wasn’t interesting and it wasn’t even his.
“…quasi pro-Colletti…”
They’re out there.
That was strange. Something must be going on with the guy. He seems unhinged.
Not exactly a great way to draw traffic to your site.
Why did he sugarcoat it?
I would say that’s slightly over the line. Maybe I’m biased, but I’m generally against a ban. In this case, Scott was begging for it.
I’m FOR the ban. If ever the old saying ‘Take it Outside” was appropriate, I think it is now. Whatever this guys issue with Mark should be handled privately. This is a site to discuss Dodger baseball.
I’m also not pro bans, in general. Dodger Digest was a ban factory. I actually got banned, long after I really participated there much, for criticizing how they kept banning people for really petty reasons. That got me banned lol. I was already over the place so I never went back.
That said, it seemed like Scott was going way way out of his way to pick a fight. Not sure how else to deal with that.
Three observations on the NLCS:
1. Phillies phun
2. Machado, Harper and Soto. Pretty good.
3. Joe Davis, really goood
Padres eliminated.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Harper, damn. Great piece of hitting. Joe Davis had a great call. Almost a shame we have to share him.
Just waiting to see all the SD fans yell about how biased Joe was against them and in favor of the Phillies.
He did a great job. And, by the way, I thought Smotz (and I’m no big JS fan) was very fair to the Phils in the Braves-Phillies series.
That’s Smoltz, not Smotz. Sorry, John.
Just the way the Phils drew it up. They sure know how to build a winning team over there
If Philly winning the pennant is not proof the playoffs are a complete crapshoot, I’m not sure what is.
I have no ax to grind against Scott, but his entire thrust for years has been to discredit Andrew Friedman. When he came here posting that stuff here, I just invited him to go back to his blog (which many times has zero comments on his posts) and post it there, but he wants to argue and call you names. Today, he challenged Bluto, and when Bluto blew up his argument, he told him to Fuck Off. That’s all I have to say… except that I hope he gets help. Really, I do. I am not a grudge-holder, but I also don’t keep repeating the past.
Carry on. I am now a certified Phillies fan until the World Series is over.
Funny…. but this one didn’t hurt that much to me.
Perhaps I’ve grown too accustomed to the Dodgers’ tendency to fizzle. Perhaps I’ve inherited the “wait ’til next year” attitude from Brooklyn days.
I remember hurting a few years back when Roberts failed to pull Kersh against Washington and he gave up the bombs I remember he anger, and hurt, when we learned that the Trashtros cheated.
This time, I always realized that the Dodgers just weren’t really much better than the other top teams–the Astros, the Braves, the Mets, the Yanks. Losing to the Padres…. OK, that sort of hurt, but mostly I felt disgust.
For Dodgers fans, perhaps the best news of the postseason is that we can all root for the Phillies now.
The Phils upgraded their roster at midseason by dealing with the Angels for Brandon Marsh and Syndergaard. I don’t think either of those guys would have helped the Dodgers–but it was a smart move for the Phils. Other smart midseason moves: Drury and Hader to the Pads, Bader to the Yankees, Castillo to the Mariners, Mancini to the Trashtros.)
I have felt the same pain my brother. 62 hurt like hell.
With every year that I grow older it hurts more. the long drought between 88 and 20 was getting harder with every year passing . Life is a short trip and when you see the years dwindling down you know there wont be many more chances to see the Dodgers win it all. I am heading toward 60 fast and history tells me the Dodgers have won it all 7 times in their 140 years of playing baseball. That comes down to once every 20 years .
Statiscially it is Getting close for me….
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations Phillies. You slayed the southern dragon. Now enjoy the Astros. I am not totally sure how any of the warts can be removed or at least fixed. At this point in time there is a ton of uncertainty surrounding the team. 10 free agents, a couple of possible non tenders. Trade pieces by the boatload. Some interest in players who will be free agents in about 19 days. I do feel, and this is just me that there needs to be some shift in the batting approach and maybe a new voice or two. Plaschkie suggested a new bench coach, a new game planner and a new batting coach. I think any help you can give Roberts on his in game decisions would be a plus. Plaschkie also said something about the post season games seem to speed up and Roberts, who handle the in season management well, gets a little discombobulated during the playoffs. Oh well, what do I know.
Phillies have no chance vs the Cheatros. I wont watch the series.
Still mad as hell that the commisioners office did not have the guts and balls to take their 2017 title away and hand it to us. Teams and athletes have been stripped of titles for less in the sports world.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!