Browsing: Shaikin

You. And you. And you too.

You all ripped the Dodgers for standing fairly pat at the trade deadline, despite glaring holes in left field and in the bullpen. Heck, this was the headline in this very newspaper: “Andrew Friedman struck out on the Dodgers†urgent need for a closer.â€

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How ever would the Dodgers return to the World Series?

The San Diego Padres had crept within three games of the Dodgers, and they had given up one of their two elite prospects for Mason Miller. The Philadelphia Phillies, a team that would finish with more wins than the Dodgers in the regular season, had swapped prospects for Jhoan Duran.

The Dodgers, the team that had spent $85 million on veteran relievers Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates over the winter, had gotten their last three saves from Alex Vesia, Jack Dreyer and Ben Casparius. Their trade deadline pickups: Brock Stewart, a setup man who soon would be lost to injury for the season, and Alex Call, a fourth outfielder.

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The Padres will not represent the National League in the World Series. Neither will the Phillies.

The Dodgers will, so that was Friedman late Friday night, drenched in celebratory alcohol after a championship series sweep, sloshing through pools of liquid forming on plastic sheeting.

You love him now. Three months ago, you crushed him.

“Yeah,†he said with a shrug. “It comes with it.â€

Friedman, the Dodgers†president of baseball operations, appreciates your passion, if not your advice.

“The thing I canâ€t do is make moves based on what people think we should do,†he said. “Weâ€re going to make mistakes. Weâ€re going to be aggressive taking shots.

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“Our goal is to be essentially the casino: be right more than weâ€re wrong, and have it yield a really good product that has a chance to win the World Series.â€

To be the casino means to have options, and to hit on one of them, rather than depending on only one option.

“Our thing on not acquiring some pitching was, we thought we were going to be leaving talented pitchers off our playoff roster as is,†Friedman said. “It wasnâ€t as front of mind as it was for others.â€

Letâ€s rewind here.

In left field, the Dodgers had to decide whether to acquire a productive bat for a corner outfield spot and release Michael Conforto, pick up a platoon partner for him, or let him ride. They picked up Alex Call, with an unannounced postseason contingency.

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“I will say Kiké (Hernández) — trading for him last year, re-signing him this year — that was part of the calculus, given his postseason pedigree,†Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “So thatâ€s not something that was lost on us.â€

It ainâ€t bragging if you back it up. The Dodgers include October on their schedule every year, so they could afford to carry Hernández and his .255 on-base percentage and 0.1 WAR for six months because he conveniently transforms into a star for one month. Hernandez can play anywhere in the infield or outfield.

The Dodgers did not include Conforto on their playoff roster. Hernández has started every game this postseason, with a .375 OBP.

That took care of left field.

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The closer?

Dodgers catcher Will Smith hugs pitcher Roki Sasaki after the final out of Game 4 of the NLCS on Friday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Friedman believed the Dodgers had enough good arms that one would emerge, even with so many quality arms available in trade. He readily admits he had no idea Roki Sasaki would be the one, as Sasaki was on the injured list at the trade deadline and did not emerge as a reliever until mid-September.

“We said internally that things are lining up that we are going to be at the peak of our health in October,†Dodgers president Stan Kasten said. “And, if thatâ€s the case, we love our rotation, we love our lineup, and we love our bullpen.â€

Still, while the starters were headed toward health, the Dodgers made an audacious bet in not adding a late-inning relief arm. Scott, Yates, Brusdar Graterol, Michael Kopech and Evan Phillips all were injured, ineffective, or both.

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In the postseason, Sasaki has given up one run and three hits in eight innings. He has three saves, as many as Yates had in the regular season.

“Those trades in July for relievers? Thatâ€s why we tried to do what we did in the offseason: be aggressive,†Friedman said.

“Not only are the prices out of whack, the same reliever volatility that we were suffering from in that moment can still happen after you make a trade.â€

Miller and Duran — and, for that matter, David Bednar — performed well for their new teams. Camilo Doval and Ryan Helsley did not. So the Dodgers kept their prospects and determined some kind of solution would come from within.

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“What we werenâ€t going to do was do something that we felt was foolish just to placate in that moment,†Friedman said, “and thatâ€s how we have to try to operate and explain it as clearly as we can.

“That said, weâ€re going to make mistakes. Weâ€re going to make mistakes quite often, and our goal is to learn from them and try to be right more than weâ€re wrong.â€

What appeared in the moment to be two big mistakes turned out not to be. Friedman has built two World Series champions within five years, with a third seemingly on deck, so he does not appear to be a moron, no matter what you might see on social media or in the comments section.

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Perhaps the Dodgers†World Series berth might silence his skeptics among the fan base.

“Theyâ€re enjoying the success,†Friedman said. “And Iâ€m glad they are.â€

Winning the trade deadline is not the goal. Winning a championship trophy is, and the sometimes confounding but always contending Dodgers are four victories away.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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Shohei Ohtani has done next to nothing in the National League Championship Series. The Dodgers could sweep their way into the World Series on Friday, with Ohtani as a footnote in the NLCS story, but baseballâ€s best player has a flair for the dramatic.

Bring on the latest Babe Ruth comparison!

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Baseballâ€s contemporary two-way superstar can do something Friday that baseballâ€s original two-way superstar never did.

Ruth started three postseason games as a pitcher, never hitting a home run in those games. Ohtani starts his second postseason game as a pitcher Friday, looking for his first postseason home run as a pitcher.

He could hit a home run and be the winning pitcher Friday, because why not?

“I feel like Shohei is a superhero character,†Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas said.

In the division series, Ohtani had one hit in 18 at-bats, with nine strikeouts. After the Dodgers clinched, this was catcher Will Smith: “He didnâ€t do much this series. I expect next series for him to come out and hit like five homers. Thatâ€s just who he is.â€

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In this series, Ohtani has two hits in 11 at-bats, with five strikeouts. Over the NLDS and NLCS, he is batting .103 with no home runs, and he has struck out in 48% of his at-bats.

He has not hit five home runs in this series, as Smith had optimistically anticipated.

“Iâ€m hoping he will tomorrow,†Smith said Thursday.

If a player has a rough week or two in June and changes up his routine, you might hear about it for a couple of minutes on the pregame show. Ohtani had a rough week or two in October and decided to take batting practice on the field instead of in the indoor cages Wednesday, and it became MAJOR BREAKING INTERNATIONAL NEWS.

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Not just for fans, the ones that have made his jersey baseballâ€s best seller, and the ones set to flock to the grand opening of a Tokyo pop-up gallery Friday, featuring vinyl albums that pay homage to the walk-up songs and anthems of Ohtani and other major league stars.

Ohtaniâ€s teammates came out to watch that rare outdoor batting practice. The sound guys cranked up an extra dose of Michael Bublé. And, because it was Ohtani, he hit a ball off the roof of the right-field pavilion.

So, no, the Dodgers arenâ€t worried. And, no, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts isnâ€t about to move Ohtani down in the lineup.

“Obviously, Shohei’s not performing the way he would like or we expect,†Roberts said. “But I just know how big of a part he is to this thing.

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“We’ve got a long way to go. But I just like the work he’s putting in. And I’ll bet on him all day long.â€

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani runs the bases on a leadoff triple against the Brewers in the first inning of Game 3 of the NLCS on Thursday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

For Ohtaniâ€s hitting, pitching has been his kryptonite this season. In his 15 starts, including the one in the NLDS, he is batting .207, and he has struck out in 43% of his at-bats.

“I don’t necessarily think that the pitching has affected my hitting performance,†Ohtani said Wednesday. “Just on the pitching side, as long as I control what I can control, I feel pretty good about putting up results. On the hitting side, just the stance, the mechanics, thatâ€s something that I do. Itâ€s a constant work in progress.â€

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There was some progress Thursday, when Ohtani tripled to lead off the first inning. On the next pitch, Mookie Betts doubled him home.

“Itâ€s kind of like the Bulls playing without Michael Jordan sometimes,†Betts told TBS after the game. “So we get him going and then itâ€s really going to be hard to beat. You see what happens immediately. As soon as he gets a hit, good things happen. But heâ€s going to be there.

“Heâ€s going to be there when the time is right. We all trust and believe in Shohei.â€

Before the NLCS, Roberts was blunt about Ohtaniâ€s offensive struggles.

“Weâ€re not gonna win the World Series with that sort of performance,†Roberts said.

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That sort of performance has continued, and the Dodgers are undefeated since then. That makes it easier to believe in Ohtani, and in what he might deliver on Friday.

“Iâ€m expecting nothing short of incredible,†infielder Max Muncy said.

“All in all, Iâ€m expecting Shohei to pitch a great game, and whatever he does offensively is just kind of icing on the cake at that point. Itâ€s a tough thing to pitch and hit in the same game, especially in a postseason game. Heâ€s going to be fine.â€

The Ruth comparison only goes so far. When he pitched in the postseason, he was primarily a pitcher, twice batting ninth. He made 145 pitches in his first postseason start, a 14-inning complete-game victory.

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That is about all we can say Ohtani will not do. The Dodgers are so deep that, Roberts†fear notwithstanding, they could win the World Series with a slumping Ohtani. They did that last year, in fact.

However, with one mighty swing, Fridayâ€s storyline could be less about what he did not do and more about what Ruth could not do. Champagne showers are in the forecast.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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Teoscar Hernández does not lack for emotion. He plays with joy, with exuberance, with delight.

The Dodgers know he can hit. We all do. If the emotion dissipates, so can the performance.

Hernández could have been the goat Saturday night, in what would have been the Dodgers†first loss in this postseason. Instead, he hit the game-winning home run, nearly levitated around first base, and became an October hero yet again.

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In the Dodgers†16 postseason games last year, he hit three home runs and drove in 12 runs. In the Dodgers†three postseason games so far this year, he has hit three home runs and driven in nine.

You might fret about his uneven defense. You might second guess a defensive play that put the Dodgers deeper into an early hole.

Allâ€s well that ends well, as evidenced by his three-run home run that powered the Dodgers to a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League division series opener.

“For me, anything that happened before a big moment like that, it’s in the past,†Hernández said.

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“I try to put it in the trash and just focus on the things that I need to do.â€

In the second inning of what was then a scoreless tie, the Phillies put runners on first and second with none out. Catcher J.T. Realmuto pummeled a Shohei Ohtani fastball into right-center field, where Hernández approached the ball but did not appear to accelerate as the ball skipped past him.

If Hernández had cut the ball off, Realmuto would have had a single, and the Phillies would have scored two runs in the inning. Instead, Realmuto had a triple — matching his season total — and he later scored a third run in the inning.

“I would argue that he wasnâ€t not trying,†Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Hernández. “But, yeah, that’s a ball that you don’t want Realmuto to have a triple.â€

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On Twitter, former Dodgers pitcher Brett Anderson posted — and then deleted — this: “If Iâ€m Shohei Iâ€m going to need Teoscar Hernández to try a little harder.â€

Hernández said he did not get a good angle toward the hard-hit ball. Roberts did credit Hernández with a defensive adjustment on a later ball, shading the line to keep Bryce Harper to a single rather than an extra-base hit that could have driven home a run for the Phillies.

Teoscar Hernández follows through on his three-run home run in the seventh inning of Game 1 against the Philadelphia Phillies. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The Dodgers minimized Hernándezâ€s defensive exposure last year by playing him most often in left field, with Mookie Betts in right field. This year, with Betts at shortstop and the Dodgers declining to add a right fielder at the trade deadline, Hernández has played right field all season.

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The only major leaguer to play more innings in right field this season and finish lower in defensive runs saved: the Phillies†Nick Castellanos, who got into Saturdayâ€s game only after Harrison Bader suffered a groin injury.

Make no mistake, though: Hernández is here to hit. The Dodgers awarded Hernández a three-year, $66-million contract last winter, well aware that designated hitter would not be an option because of that Ohtani guy.

As Dodgers catcher Will Smith explained Saturday to a reporter wondering whether he might spend more time as a DH in the future: “We’ve got a pretty good DH. I think we’re pretty set on that.â€

Hernández was neither hitting nor fielding well for much of the second half, causing Roberts to say at the start of September that he had urged his right fielder to “get in the fight.†In the last week of August, he even benched Hernández for one day.

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Said Roberts then: “I think weâ€ve lost a little bit of that edge over the last couple months. For me, I want to see that edge, that fight, that fire, and Iâ€ll bet on any result.â€

In September, Hernández put up a .769 OPS, his best for any month since the first one. In the Dodgers†first postseason game, he hit home runs in consecutive at-bats.

On Saturday, in their third postseason game, he stepped to bat in the eighth inning with two on, two out, and the Dodgers trailing by one run — and the Phillies had scored one extra run when he could not run down that Realmuto triple.

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Hernández homered. He smiled. He skipped.

“It was a great moment,†Ohtani said.

In his face, we saw joy.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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On the scoreboard in right field, it was 7:08 p.m. in the City of the Angels: Los Angeles, California. And…

This is the time to bring on the rivals. The Dodgers are used to taking on challengers down the pennant stretch: the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres — and, in a previous version of the National League West, the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds.

The final two weeks of the regular season are upon us. The Dodgers have one remaining head-to-head matchup that really matters — and that series starts Monday at Dodger Stadium, against the Philadelphia Phillies.

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The Phillies?

The Phillies have not been realigned into the NL West. However, although the three division champions automatically qualify for the playoffs, the two with the best records earn a bye into the division series. The division champion with the third-best record — right now, that would be the Dodgers — must play in the first round.

The Milwaukee Brewers, the presumed champions of the NL Central, boast the best record in baseball. The Phillies, the presumed champions of the NL East, lead the Dodgers by 4 ½ games. The Dodgers have 13 games to play.

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The Dodgers got a bye and lost in the division series in 2022. They got a bye and lost in the division series in 2023. They got a bye and came within one game of elimination in the division series in 2024. Would they be better off not getting a bye and playing in the first round?

“There is not a question in my mind that that does not make sense,†Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers†president of baseball operations, told me last week. “It is better for your World Series odds to not play those three games.â€

The five days off that come with a bye can disrupt the timing of hitters. They also can allow time for injured and weary players to recover — that could be critical for Dodgers catcher Will Smith, in particular — and for the Dodgers to arrange their starting rotation just the way they might like it. And, of course, you canâ€t be eliminated in the first round if you donâ€t play in it.

“We have made our life more difficult to this point,†Friedman said, “but I still think we have a really good run in us, and weâ€ll make it competitive. So obviously these three games against Philly are really important in that.â€

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What if the three games against the Phillies go poorly?

Even if they donâ€t, the Dodgers might not win the division. The Padres are closer to the Dodgers than the Dodgers are to the Phillies.

San Diego trails the Dodgers by 2½ games in the NL West.

If the Padres win the NL West, how much would that hurt the Dodgers†chances of a lengthy postseason run?

Not much, if at all. Both teams almost certainly would end up in the wild-card round.

The NL West champion would play the last team into the NL field, most likely the Giants or New York Mets and maybe even the Reds or Arizona Diamondbacks, with the chance the opponent exhausted its pitching just to get into the playoffs. The other team would play the Chicago Cubs, and would avoid the possibility of facing the surging Phillies until the NLCS.

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If the NL West comes down to the last day or two, the Dodgers would have to determine whether to use their best starters on that final weekend or line them up for the wild-card series.

In that scenario, what might be the decisive factor in the Dodgers†calculus?

The NL West champion would play all three games of the wild-card round at home; the runner-up likely would play all three games on the road. The Dodgers are 48-26 at home, 36-39 on the road. (The Padres are 47-28 at home, 35-40 on the road.)

Would there be any precedent for the Dodgers not minding if the Padres won the NL West?

In 1996, the Dodgers and Padres were tied for the NL West lead heading into the final day of the regular season, with the two teams facing one another. Both teams were guaranteed a playoff spot.

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In Game 162, the Dodgers started Ramon Martinez — undefeated in his previous nine starts — then removed him after one inning.

The Padres won the game, and with it the division. The Dodgers started Martinez in their playoff opener three days later. They lost that game, and they were swept in the series by the Braves. The winning pitchers in that series, in order: John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine.

How many games are the Dodgers on pace to win?

Ninety-one.

In Friedmanâ€s previous 10 seasons running the Dodgers, what is the fewest number of games they have won?

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Ninety-one, in 2016.

How did the Dodgers do that October?

They earned a bye into the division series, in which they beat the Washington Nationals. They lost to the Chicago Cubs in the league championship series.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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The “Dodgers are ruining baseball” discourse that dominated last winter included pleas for a salary cap from the owners of…