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The Los Angeles Dodgers were in an all too familiar situation.
It was Game Four on the road in San Diego, with elimination staring them in the face. Los Angeles had blown Game Three by giving up a six-run inning littered with infield blunders.
The 6-5 loss revealed something most didn’t see playing out. The disastrous second inning would be the last time the Padres would score.
Despite the challenges of injuries to their pitching staff, the Dodgers demonstrated their resilience. Manager Dave Roberts witnessed the staff throw an impressive 24 consecutive scoreless innings, leading to victories in Game Four 8-0 and Game Five 2-0. The fact that Game Four was a bullpen game and the standout performance of Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game Five only added to the team’s reassurance.
In the winner-take-all game last night, the heart of the Padres lineup, Luis Arraez, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jurickson Profar, and Manny Machado, went 1 for 14.
With the New York Mets next, the Dodgers’ pitching staff will need to deliver again. When these two franchises met in 1988, the Dodgers were the scrappy underdogs. This time around, the Mets are playing that role.
The Dodgers organization knows that windows only stay open for so long, even when you have the payroll Los Angeles has. There’s no further proof than that than the Dodgers during the mid-80s and ’90s. Those teams brought in names at a heavy price only to see the team continuously underachieve.
But for now, Roberts has avoided discussing his job security and can focus on the next task, getting the Dodgers back to the World Series with a potential match-up with the New York Yankees.
