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If you thought the discourse after Game 2 was wild, let me introduce you to Dodger Twitter on Friday.
Yes, Game 5 — a potential closeout game — didn’t go anywhere close to planned. The Dodgers had 2nd and 3rd with no outs in the first inning, only not to score. Jack Flaherty had nothing. His stuff didn’t look great and his fastball velocity dipped considerably. The high-leverage bullpen arms weren’t used in hopes of either using them in a more high-leverage, late-inning situation and/or in a potential Game 6. As you might expect, the Dodgers got throttled 12-6. They made it interesting a couple times, but not interesting enough to really think they were going to come back.
And you know what? That’s OK! Call me a rosey-glasses optimist, but I’m actually not feeling too bad about Game 5 and the pending Game 6. Yeah, it would have been nice — optimal, even — to end the series in five games, but more often than not this postseason, the Dodgers have showed up to play. Even in their two losses in the NLCS, they showed some life with the bats, even if the pitching shit the proverbial bed. That’s something we haven’t seen out of a Dodger playoff team in quite some time — especially recently.
Dave Roberts clarified his decision-making after Game 5.
It sounds quite similar to the reasoning behind his Game 2 decisions. And it makes sense. With the pitching staff the way it is, there have to be some difficult decisions made, and sometimes, that means leaving a guy in longer than normal or saving high-leverage guys for true high-leverage situations. If the pitching staff were anywhere close to healthy, this could series — postseason — could have a different look. And while this strategy isn’t foolproof, it had better work because if not, you’ll never hear the end of it.
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Game 6 will feature the Dodgers’ bullpen going up against Mets’ Game 2 starter Sean Manaea. Manaea looked untouchable in the first four innings of Game 2, but the Dodgers started to get to him in the fifth, when Max Muncy hit a solo home run. Then, they got to him so much in the sixth that they knocked him out and mounted their best rally of the game.
I’m willing to bet the bats show up more prepared now that they’ve seen this version of Manaea before. That might even mean sitting Freddie Freeman (which they probably should have done for Game 5, a sentiment shared by many before the game).
Let’s look at this logically.
- Dodgers won’t give up 12 runs again
- Dodger pitchers won’t record zero strikeouts
- Offense should continue to show up
- High-leverage bullpen arms fully rested
This was an absolute must-win for the Mets, not so much for the Dodgers. If you had said to me — or any Dodger fan — that the series would 3-2 Dodgers going back to LA for Game 6 (and potentially 7), every single one of us would have been OK with that. And that’s exactly where we are; the route taken was just a bit circuitous.
Flaherty, Brent Honeywell Jr. and Landon Knack won’t be making any appearances in Game 6 (Knack only in a blowout situation). You can expect a true bullpen game, the likes of which we saw in Game 4 of the NLDS against the Padres — you know, the first must-win game of the postseason for the Dodgers.
There’s something about this team, even in a blowout. I might be in the minority on this — even amongst my Dodgers Digest brethren — but I’m feeling about as good as one can feel after this blowout. Maybe it’s the not living and dying with every game over the last couple years, but I’d be surprised if the Dodgers don’t wrap this thing up at home on Sunday. If they do, it would be the first time during this era of Dodger baseball they’ve clinched a World Series berth in front of the home fans — 2017 was in Chicago, 2018 in Milwaukee, 2020 in Texas.
Ideally, we’d be working on World Series content now rather than this copium article, but we don’t live in an ideal world. Give credit to the Mets for extending the series, but the Dodgers are still in a really good spot.
These Dodgers are different, and they’ll show why in Game 6.
