I really thought this Dodgers-Brewers series was going to be close. What a fool I was to judge these teams by how they played during the regular season. Because it's clear that doesn't matter anymore.
The Dodgers have gamed the system. They have the single best October team in the game, and it doesn't matter how well they've done during the regular season. They were good in the first six months, won the division, but they had injury issues and obvious flaws. Right now they have an obvious flaw, mainly that in pitching Shohei Ohtani as often as they are, the Dodgers are making it more difficult for Shohei Ohtani, their best hitter, on hitting. I also think the fact that the bullpen has been so inconsistent that the man they are paying to close games is done for the year and the man they WERE paying to start games is so bad at starting that he's better off in the ninth...that's a problem. I don't know if taking one of the best Japanese pitchers of his era, Roki Sasaki, and making him a career closer because he hasn't cracked 6-inning starts in America yet, is a mistake. It's like using Excalibur as a letter-opener.
And with all of that, and the fact that the defense isn't where it should be...they're still in position to make it to their second World Series in a row. Because nobody could stop them. Not even the two best teams in the NL.
The Dodgers are just excellent at employing people who are best suited for October. And that's why they've been so good, because Enrique Hernandez, Teoscar Hernandez, Tommy Edman, Max Muncy and Blake Snell have gone 'well, it's October so I guess we should start playing well now'. Again, regardless of how things went during the regular season.
That is how you know that the playoffs are too long and too expanded. It used to be 'let's take the best teams in both leagues and see if they can do an extra series, and then one big one against each other'. Now it's become a seventh month to the season with entirely new rules and expectations. Clearly Dave Roberts has figured out how to manage a seventh month because he's one of the only people who realizes that that's what it is now. Every other manager is still acting like the playoffs are what they were, an extra week or so to wrap up the season. And that's why they're all losing. Because they aren't preparing like the Dodgers are. This has become a marathon, and this whole Dodgers team is made up of career sprinters.
How do you compare that to a very young, very wet-behind-the-ears Brewers team? Of course they're losing! They're playing by the old rules! The Dodgers have a four man rotation plus three extra starters that play relief, their best hitter also is one of their best pitchers, and the contact game has been off the charts because it hasn't needed to shift fully to a power game.
The Dodgers are gonna make it to another World Series, and probably win. From how they're built now, they won't run out of steam until mid-December at this rate.
Meanwhile, the series which is on an actual even playing field isn't exactly pleasing me either, because the Mariners have blown their two game lead by watching two great starters, coming off of two great starts, backpedal while the lineup once again fails to show up. The Detroit series was close. This series is also close. The Mariners can't crack the Dodgers' level of consistency because, again, they packed for a three-hour tour.
I can't say I'm not blown over by Max Scherzer having an ace moment even as his career winds towards a finish. Scherzer's one of the oldest pitchers in the game, he's a lock for Cooperstown, and everything since 2021 has been frosting. He didn't even make the ALDS roster because the Jays didn't think they needed him. They did. He went 5 and 2/3rds, only allowed 2 small runs, K'd 5 and was dominant, as he was tasked to be. The Jays needed an ace moment after Yesavage and Gausman didn't work, and they got one. The offense did the rest, and the usual suspects, like Springer, Guerrero, and the surprisingly-hot Andres Gimenez, made it another blowout.
The M's are in danger of losing their leverage, and need to win Game 5 to ensure some semblance of superiority heading back to Toronto. Will this finally be the Bryan Woo game? Or will the decision to limit his output haunt Dan Wilson forever?
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