Why This October Will Be Different For The Los Angeles Dodgers

After lifting the proverbial monkey off their back in 2020, It’s no secret that the Los Angeles Dodgers have had their fair share of struggles in the postseason.

In 2021, the Braves got their revenge from the year prior on LA defeating them 4 games to 2 in the NLCS, although that series never really felt like LA was in it.

In 2022, the Padres had their best season since the turn of the millennium, beating the Dodgers 3 games to 1 in the NLDS.

Last season, another division rival, the Arizona Diamondbacks sent the Los Angeles Dodgers home with a 3-0 sweep of LA in a series where the Dodgers got next to nothing from their starting pitching coupled with a 1-21 at the plate from Betts and Freeman.

Many fans will blame Roberts for the lack of success in the last few years, while others will say we didn’t have enough starting pitching. Without any additional context, you would think one of these things has to be true until you look a little deeper and one thing has been the Dodgers biggest downfall: injuries.

Losing Max Muncy in 2021 in the last game of the season left the Dodgers outmatched against the Braves. A slew of injuries to their pitching including Walker Buehler, Dustin May, Daniel Hudson, Blake Treinen, Victor Gonzalez, etc., left LA without a top-end starter and depleted bullpen depth.

Related: 4 Bold Predictions For Los Angeles Dodgers Series With San Diego Padres

Last year was a similar story, losing 4 of their 5 starting pitchers from their opening day roster. Clayton Kershaw was the only remaining active starter from opening day, and he clearly wasn’t healthy, needed surgery, and missed the next 9 months immediately following the worst start of this career.

This October Will Be Different For Los Angeles Dodgers

In 2024, the Los Angeles Dodgers dealt with a ton of injuries as well, and some of them will still loom large.

The difference between this year and last is that the injuries occurred earlier in the season and the Dodgers were able to adjust and trade for players at the deadline to fill the holes. Not having Glasnow, Kershaw, or Gavin Stone available will certainly hurt, but the new additions of Jack Flaherty and Yoshinobu Yamamoto give LA two top-of-the-rotation guys, with Walker Buehler, who has been historically great in postseason games and Landon Knack, coming off a solid year rounding out the rotation.

On the offensive side of the ball, the only concerns are Freddie Freeman’s low ankle sprain and Miguel Rojas’ adductor strain, although both are expected to be ready to go for Game 1 (Freeman is still a game-time decision).

Although the Dodgers have some injuries, they still have a ton of depth and are playing their best baseball of the year.

Also Read: Dave Roberts Gives Injury Update On Clayton Kershaw

The bullpen ranked 4 ^th over the course of the season with a 3.53 ERA, and have been lights out in September. In addition to that their offense has been rolling, getting production from every spot in the lineup, including an otherworldly performance from Shohei Ohtani.

After putting up one of the greatest offensive seasons of all time with the first 50/50 in the history of the sport, Ohtani will get his first taste of the MLB postseason.

Down the stretch, with the Los Angeles Dodgers fighting for the division and home-field advantage throughout the postseason, he was even better.

In September, with his full supporting cast in the lineup, Ohtani slashed .393/.458/.766 to go along with 27 runs, 10 HR, 32 RBI, and 16 stolen bases over 26 games. Extrapolated over 156 games (to allow for some off days) that is a 162 run, 60 HR, 192 RBI, 96 SB pace. When Ohtani has his whole supporting cast hitting behind him, and forcing pitchers not to pitch around him, the arguably greatest player in the game becomes unstoppable.

With that being said, they will be facing off against the Padres in the postseason for the third time in 5 years. The two teams have split the previous two series one apiece and this Padres team is more balanced than in previous years and will be no walk in the park.

Led by Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., they also have a budding star in Jackson Merrill who has a strong case for Rookie of The Year.

The Padres also acquired some back-end bullpen pieces at the deadline to go with a strong starting rotation of Yu Darvish, Michael King, and Dylan Cease.

The Padres took the season series 8-5 from LA, but the Los Angeles Dodgers won the more important series at the end of the season to clinch the division.

These two teams are evenly matched and it’s no secret that there is no love lost between them. No matter the rooting interest, this is must-see TV for all baseball fans. The series kicks off tonight with the first pitch at 5:38 PM PDT .

More must-reads:

• Dave Roberts Reveals Unfortunate Fate Of Dodgers Pitcher Clayton Kershaw
• Dodgers Make Sudden Change On NLDS Game 1 Starting Pitcher
• San Diego Padres Employ Petty Tactics to Keep Los Angeles Dodgers Fans Out of Petco Park