The Los Angeles Dodgers just couldn’t make it easy on themselves. While they should have taken a series against the Arizona D-Backs, and should have clinched their third consecutive NL West title in Colorado against the Rockies, the Dodgers unintentionally gave themselves the opportunity to clinch the division on rival turf in San Francisco. If that wasn’t enough, they had wait until Clayton Kershaw took the mound Tuesday night against Madison Bumgarner.
Dodgers Clinch; Face Uphill Road
While it’s not quite the World Series trophy that the Dodgers have been looking to add since 1988, clinching two years in a row against the San Francisco Giants, and this time on rival turf at AT&T Park, is the next sweetest thing for the Dodgers.
Nonetheless, if they do want to obtain that World Series championship, the Dodgers will need to come back down to Earth, as the journey to represent the National League in the 2015 World Series will be a long uphill battle, starting with trying to secure home field advantage against the New York Mets.
In seven games this year against the Mets, the Mets won four games, and outscored the Dodgers in run 33-19. Provided the Dodgers get past the Mets, it won’t be any easier.
The NLCS this year is guaranteed to have a team from the NL Central, a division the Dodgers have been .500 against this season. When playing the Pirates and the Cardinals this year, the Dodgers have a combined three wins. If the Dodgers had a choice, they would choose the Cubs who they took 4 out of 7 against.
They say defense wins championships, and in the postseason, the bullpen is the bulk of the defense. For the Dodgers, their bullpen earned run average is among the highest in baseball, hovering around a 4.00 ERA. The Dodgers will need to rely heavily on Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke to go deep in their starts, and will have to hope that their bullpen will be able to hold when the back end of the rotation takes the hill.
Another denominator will be whether or not Yasiel Puig plays in the postseason. Puig has been on the DL since August 28th, and isn’t looking to be ready for the NLDS. For the Dodgers, that may be a good thing, especially after an unnamed teammate said earlier in the season that not having Puig on the team would be addition by subtraction. Of course, that will easily be forgotten if Puig shows up in the postseason in the fashion that he did when the Dodgers first called him up in 2013.
Will the “best team that money can buy” finally go the distance? October will give the answer soon enough.
Main Photo:
