Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Sunday night was a familiar feeling for the Dodgers and the fan base. A bad familiar.
Far too often during this 14-year postseason run, we’ve experienced heartache more than we’ve experience elation. In recent years, it’s been more the later than the former, which has almost rendered 2013-16 and 2021-23 moot.
Yet, the Dodgers barely squeaked out a World Series win last year and got out-hit by the Blue Jays. A legendary performance by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, plus some timely home runs, are the only reasons the Dodgers are going for a 3-peat this year. The Dodgers hit .203 in the World Series last year — the lowest ever by a champion.
I update this every year, and you can see the Dodgers were fortunate to win it all last year.
Dodgers’ postseason offense (runs/game):2013: 3.2 2014: 3.75 2015: 3.6 2016: 3.3 2017: 5.5 (*) 2018: 3.7 2019: 4.4 2020: 5.6 (?) 2021: 4 2022: 3 2023: 2 2024: 5.9 (?) 2025: 4.2 (?)
— Dustin Nosler (@DustinNosler) November 2, 2025
If they’re not careful, there won’t be a little trophy emoji next to their runs scored per game mark.
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The Braves, throwing their third consecutive bullpen game, were able to hold the Dodgers to two runs on Sunday night — both solo home runs. All seven of the Dodgers’ runs this series have come via the home run.
This isn’t going to be a piece about the Dodgers having to play small ball or anything — WTF was with that Tommy Edman bunt in the third inning??? Dave Roberts has been a much better tactician as he has matured as a manager, but that was his biggest gaffe in quite a while.
This is about the Dodgers, again, not being able to come up with a clutch hit — a single, even. The instance that sticks out most is the fifth inning. Mookie Betts walked and Shohei Ohtani singled to begin the inning. With the 3-4-5 hitters coming up, it was prime time for the Dodgers to score a run, or maybe even put up a crooked number. The Braves turned to Robert Suarez, who dealt with injuries in his first season with the Braves. He was a familiar face to the Dodgers from his years with the Padres.
Will Smith flied out harmlessly. Freddie Freeman flied out harmlessly. Teoscar Hernandez struck out meagerly (though, we never got a side-replay of the check swing, but whatever). That’s where the Dodgers lost the game, despite being down just 2-1 at that point. And no, Betts wasn’t going to steal third base, as John Smoltz was suggesting on the broadcast.
It felt like 2022-23 all over again. A wave of dread and expected disappointed rushed over me that was all too familiar. A bad familiar.
A fortunate hit — a double, by most accounts, if not an out — by Michael Harris II was played into a triple by Hernandez. Then, a wild pitch by Kris Bubic, that should have been classified a passed ball, gave the Braves all the cushion they would need.
The fact that the Dodgers allowed the Dodgers to get away with the Braves throwing a third consecutive bullpen game could loom large for the rest of the series. Credit to that group of Braves’ pitchers for sure. They stepped up when their club needed them most. The Dodgers’ hitters, however, did not.
They’ve done this far too often over the last nearly decade-and-a-half. Now, the bats will have to get right against a fully rested Chris Sale. Yes, the Dodgers are countering with Yamamoto, but it doesn’t matter how well he pitches if the Dodgers don’t score enough. And they’ve had chances to score, they just haven’t been able to come through yet.
Fortunately, the Dodgers should have the pitching advantage in Game 4 and a potential Game 5, but if they don’t score, then it doesn’t matter if prime Sandy Koufax is on the hill.
This is an all-too-familiar feeling for Dodgers fans in October. Hell, it was familiar as recently as late-July through the end of August. The Dodgers have too many seasoned veterans to be this bad in the postseason. Then again, perhaps they’re a little over-seasoned (old) at this point. If only Josue De Paula could play literally any other position than designated hitter right now. Oh, and the next time Andy Pages gets a hit of significance in the postseason, it’ll be the first.
This might sound panicky and I can hear fans of other rolling their eyes by now. But we as Dodger fans have been through this before — for better or worse.
It’s familiar. A bad familiar.
