Dodgers Dugout: Do Dodgers starting pitchers think this is the 1960s?
Hi and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Somewhere in baseball heaven Fernando Valenzuela is saying to himself, “A complete game. What’s the big deal?”
The story of the postseason so far has been the starting pitching. Amazing. Let’s take a look at how the Dodgers’ starters have done:
NL wild-card series vs. Reds
Game 1: Blake Snell, 7 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 1 walk, 9 K’s, Dodgers win 10-5
Game 2: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 6.2 IP, 4 hits, 0 ER, 2 walks, 9 K’s, Dodgers win 8-4
NLDS vs. Phillies
Game 1: Shohei Ohtani, 6 IP, 3 hits, 3 ER, 1 walk, 9 K’s, Dodgers win 5-3
Game 2: Blake Snell, 6 IP, 1 hit, 0 ER, 4 walks, 9 K’s, Dodgers win, 4-3
Game 3: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 4 IP, 6 hits, 3 ER, 1 walk, 2 K’s, Dodgers lose, 8-2
Game 4: Tyler Glasnow, 6 IP, 2 hits, 0 ER, 3 walks, 8 K’s, Dodgers win, 2-1
NLCS vs. Brewers
Game 1: Blake Snell, 8 IP, 1 hit, 0 ER, 0 walks, 10 K’s, Dodgers win, 2-1
Game 2: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 9 IP, 3 hits, 1 ER, 1 walk, 7 K’s, Dodgers win, 5-1
In eight games, starting pitchers have thrown 52.2 innings, giving up 24 hits and 13 walks while striking out 63 and posting a 1.54 ERA.
—It’s as if suddenly Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale are taking turns on the mound again. Of course, they always did it in the World Series, as there were no other rounds back then.
—In the 1963 World Series (a four-game sweep of the Yankees), Koufax, Drysdale and Johnny Podres combined to pitch 35.1 innings, giving up 21 hits and five walks while striking out 36 and posting a 1.02 ERA
—In the 1965 World Series, won in seven games against Minnesota, Koufax, Drysdale and Claude Osteen combined to pitch 49.2 innings, giving up 34 hits and 13 walks while striking out 48 and posting a 1.27 ERA.
—Pedro Martinez (can you believe he didn’t choose to wear a Dodger cap on his Hall of Fame plaque) had this to say on X about Snell: “I’ve been part of many postseason games, and I’ve done some great things, but in my career I haven’t seen someone do the amount of things he’s done. It gave me goosebumps to watch him. I think we can all learn from him. He deserves a lot of credit and respect.”
—That leadoff home run in Game 2 seemed to anger Yamamoto.
—Proving himself to be the master of the understatement, Yamamoto said this after the game: “I was able to pitch until the end. So I really felt a sense of accomplishment.”
—This has been like watching old-school baseball. Starting pitchers going deep into games. Dodgers bunting on occasion. Not every run coming on a home run. What is happening?
—Whatever it is, I like it.
—Let’s unpack that crazy Game 1 play. Bases loaded, one out, Max Muncy at the plate. He lifts a fly ball to deep center. Brewers center fielder Sal Frelick leaps, and the ball bounces off his glove and hits the fence on the yellow line before Frelick corrals it again. OK, let’s stop there:
In Milwaukee, the yellow line does not signify a home run. If a ball hits the yellow line, it means ball is in play. Visiting teams are reminded of this rule when they visit Milwaukee.
The left-field umpire immediately signals no catch, ball is in play. Unfortunately, it appears the only person paying attention to him is Brewers catcher William Contreras (also the only person on the field who is naturally facing the outfield to see all of this.)
As far as tagging up on a catch, the rule is you can run as soon as the ball hits the glove. Teoscar Hernández tagged up, started to run, saw the bobble, ran back, tagged up again, and by the time he made it home, the throw had beaten him. Because it wasn’t a catch and the bases were loaded, it was a force play at any base. Contreras, knowing it was a force play, didn’t even try to tag Hernández. He then ran to third to force Will Smith there. Smith, thinking the ball had been caught, had run back to second and told Tommy Edman, who had advanced to second, to go back to first. In the meantime, while Edman was doing that, Muncy passed him on the basepath. So really, the Brewers could have had a triple play, or even a quadruple play if such a thing were possible.
Third base coach Dino Ebel says he told Hernández to go. Hernández took full blame for the baserunning mistake the next day.
Hernández : “I just f— up. It’s that simple. It was one of those plays that if you would have asked me two days ago what would you do in this situation, I would say, as soon as the ball touched the glove, I would go. But in the moment, I got blocked, I think, and there’s not an explanation. I saw it when the ball hit the glove, I went. Then I saw it bounced off the glove. And I just reacted bad. Just one of those moments, you block your mind. But there’s nobody to blame but myself. And it happens.”
Smith also messed up by running back to second and telling Edman to run back to first. It was extremely loud in Milwaukee’s stadium, so apparently no one could hear Ebel.
Everyone on the field seemed confused (except Contreras). Both managers seemed confused at that moment. The TBS announcing crew was confused. People on social media were confused. We finally found something to unite us all: Confusion. It was crazy.
—In some years, the Dodgers would have fallen apart after that and lost the game.
—And then Snell marched out after that deflating half inning and mowed down the Brewers, 1-2-3 in the next half-inning. That’s what aces do.
—Who among you was screaming “Nooooooooooooooooooo!” when Blake Treinen came into Game 1? Roki Sasaki didn’t have it that night. But somehow Treinen got out of it.
—It seemed to make Dave Roberts think twice about pulling Yamamoto in Game 2 though.
—The offense isn’t quite clicking, but they are doing just enough to win. Baserunning gaffe aside, Teoscar continues to come up big in the postseason. As does Super Kiké.
—Now the baton passes back to Tyler Glasnow for Game 3.
—The last Dodger to pitch a postseason complete game was José Lima in 2004, when he shut out the Cardinals on five hits in Game 3 of the NLDS. It was the team’s first postseason win since Game 5 of the 1988 World Series. It was his only season with the Dodgers. He went 13-5 with a 4.07 ERA. His final season in the majors was 2006. He died of a heart attack in 2010. He was 37.
—To think, the Dodgers are doing this with basically a three-man bullpen.
—In Game 2, Muncy hit his 14th postseason home run, setting the all-time Dodgers record. It’s a little misleading, since guys such as Duke Snider only got one round of postseason play, and guys such as Steve Garvey usually got only two. But it’s still a nice accomplishment.
The most postseason homers in Dodger history:
14
Max Muncy (one every 16.1 at bats)
13
Corey Seager (17.9)
Justin Turner (24.2)
11
Duke Snider (12.1)
10
Steve Garvey (18.2)
Kiké Hernández (21)
9
Cody Bellinger (26.9)
Joc Pederson (16.8)
Chris Taylor (25.2)
—The Dodgers seem to have another gear they have shifted into this postseason, while the other teams don’t have that extra gear as of yet.
—The Dodgers have gone 22-6 in their last 28 games.
—But this series is far from over.
Dodgers in the postseason
How the Dodgers are doing this postseason:
Batters
Alex Call, .750 (3 for 4), 2 walks
Ben Rortvedt, .429 (3 for 7), 1 double, 1 RBI, 3 K’s
Kiké Hernández, .379 (11 for 29), 4 doubles, 4 RBIs, 4 walks, 7 K’s
Miguel Rojas, .375 (3 for 8), 1 RBI
Mookie Betts, .303 (10 for 33), 3 doubles, 1 triple, 5 RBIs, 4 walks, 2 K’s
Tommy Edman, .296 (8 for 27), 1 double, 2 homers, 4 RBIs, 1 walk, 7 K’s
Teoscar Hernández, .295 (10 for 34), 1 double, 4 homers, 10 RBIs, 2 walks, 7 K’s
Max Muncy, .273 (6 for 22), 1 double, 1 homer, 1 RBI, 6 walks, 5 K’s
Freddie Freeman, .242 (8 for 33), 4 doubles, 1 homer, 1 RBI, 3 walks, 8 K’s
Will Smith, .238 (5 for 21), 2 RBIs, 2 walks, 7 K’s
Shohei Ohtani, .147 (5 for 34), 2 homers, 6 RBIs, 6 walks, 15 K’s
Andy Pages, .069 (2 for 29), 1 double, 1 RBI, 6 K’s
Dalton Rushing, .000 (0 for 1), 1 K
Note: Justin Dean has been in eight games but has not batted (he has scored one run); Hyeseong Kim has been in one game, has not batted and has scored a run
Pitching
Tyler Glasnow, 0.00 ERA, 7.2 IP, 4 hits, 5 walks, 10 K’s
Jack Dreyer, 0.00 ERA, 1.2 IP, 2 walks, 1 K
Anthony Banda, 0.00 ERA, 1 IP, 1 walk, 2 K’s
Blake Snell, 3-0, 0.86 ERA, 21 IP, 6 hits, 2 ER, 5 walks, 28 K’s
Roki Sasaki, 1.50 ERA, 2 saves, 6 IP, 2 hits, 1 ER, 1 walks, 5 K’s
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 2-1, 1.83 ERA, 19.2 IP, 13 hits, 4 ER, 4 walks, 18 K’s
Shohei Ohtani, 1-0, 4.50 ERA, 6 IP, 3 hits, 3 ER, 1 walk, 9 K’s
Alex Vesia, 1-0, 6.00 ERA, 3 IP, 2 hits, 2 ER, 3 walks, 3 K’s
Blake Treinen, 6.75 ERA, 1 save, 2.2 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 1 walk, 3 K’s
Emmet Sheehan, 10.80 ERA, 3.1 IP, 6 hits, 4 ER, 2 walks, 2 K’s
Clayton Kershaw, 18.00 ERA, 2 IP, 6 hits, 4 ER, 3 walks, 1 K
Edgardo Henriquez, infinity, 0 IP, 1 hit, 1 ER, 2 walks
Poll results
What will be the outcome of the NLCS (poll closed one minute before the first pitch of Game 1)?
After 11,709 votes:
Dodgers in six, 43.3%
Dodgers in five, 25.6%
Dodgers in seven, 19.6%
Brewers in six, 4.7%
Brewers in seven, 3.2%
Dodgers in four, 1.8%
Brewers in five, 1.3%
Brewers in four, 0.5%
Up next
Game 1: Dodgers 2, at Milwaukee 1 (box score)
Game 2: Dodgers 5, at Milwaukee 1 (box score)
Thursday: Milwaukee at Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow, 4-3, 3.19 ERA), 3 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio
Friday: Milwaukee at Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 1-1, 2.87 ERA), 5:30 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio
x-Saturday: Milwaukee at Dodgers, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio
x-Monday: Dodgers at Milwaukee, 2 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio
x-Tuesday: Dodgers at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio
x-if necessary
In case you missed it
Shohei Ohtani takes rare on-field BP amid playoff slump, downplays impact of two-way role
Shaikin: Dodgers starting pitchers proving to be the ultimate opposing crowd silencers
In this postseason, Dodgers’ offense starts from the bottom
Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws a complete game to NLCS Game 2 | Dodgers Debate
Hernández: The Dodgers’ latest starting-pitching flex? Make the bullpen a non-factor
Just how much are the Dodgers charging for World Series tickets?
Kiké Hernández and Will Smith talk NLCS Game 2 win, Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s big night
Shaikin: Blake Snell replicating what Sandy Koufax achieved 60 Octobers ago
It took some luck, but good things finally happen to Dodgers’ Blake Treinen
Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández avoids Milwaukee’s allegedly haunted hotel at wife’s insistence
And finally
Highlights from Game 1 of the NLCS. Watch and listen here. Highlights from Game 2. Watch and listen here.
Until next time…
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