The World Series has escaped manager Don Mattingly and the Los Angeles Dodgers once again after another early exit from the playoffs.
The Dodgers franchise owns a claim to six World Championships, two each in the 1950’s, the 1960’s and from the 1980’s. And that same beloved franchise holds the MLB’s highest payroll of $289.6 million, and has only managed two playoff victories before losing 3-2 to the New York Mets in a crucial game five of the NLDS on Thursday night.
A lot of people are asking who to blame? The players on the team are adamant it’s not their manager Don Mattingly.
“He had nothing to do with this,” left fielder Kike Hernandez said. “It’s not even a question. Donnie is our manager.”
Dodgers veteran first baseman Adrian Gonzalez said, “He’s our guy and I believe in him.”
Don Mattingly is under contract for one more year, but it’s not out of the question that the Dodgers might decide to put the team in the hands of someone new.
Mattingly was in no mood at the post game press conference, especially when somebody asked a question about his status for next season. He quickly dismissed the question and had the moderator move the questions along.
As manager of the Dodgers for five years, Mattingly has a record of 446-363. He’s lead the Dodgers to a winning record in each of his five seasons, including three straight NL West titles, which is a Dodgers record. The former Yankees great, is ranked sixth all-time among the winningest Dodgers managers.
In five years as Dodgers manager, Mattingly has reached the playoffs three times, but has only won just one postseason series, while losing three. The Dodgers haven’t won a World Series since 1988, when Tommy Lasorda was manager.
Mattingly was hand-picked by Joe Torre to succeed him in 2010 after he coached under the Hall of Famer for seven seasons.
This season, Mattingly worked under a new president of baseball operations Andrew Freidman and general manager Farhan Zaidi, who apparently had a greater hands-on management of the team than what Mattingly was used to under the former GM Ned Colleti.
Between Zaidi’s expert knowledge in advanced analytics along with Freidman’s known ability for building a roster while crunching numbers, meant Mattingly had a constant stream of information sent his way.
However, in the end, it was all the same.
“You come to spring training, you work all winter, you scratch, you fight, all year long to get into this situation and you have a chance. It comes to a crash,” Mattingly said. “I don’t think there’s any way to soften that blow.”
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