The Los Angeles Dodgers showed how their offense can put up runs in a multitude of ways in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, but failed to see the same results on Sunday in a 10-2 blowout loss.
While the San Diego Padres launched a record-tying six home runs in Game 2, the Dodgers logged just five hits. Their ineffectiveness was highlighted by Padres starter Yu Darvish working quickly, needing just 82 pitches to complete seven innings.
The Dodgers’ lack of postseason run production isn’t an isolated event, dating back several seasons with a shift in approach.
“I think that the one thing that we do a good job as an offense is control the strike zone, run at-bats, go deep in counts,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “But I think that at times we get a little too passive. You’ve got to be ready to strike if the ball’s in the hitting zone.
“I think we’ve seen it in past postseasons where, to be quite honest, we’ve been bullied with the fastball. So I think for us, be ready to hit off a fastball.”
Toward the end of the regular season, the Dodgers were among Major League Baseball’s top offenses against fastballs. Their output against Darvish isn’t indicative of their potential, with a focus more on their overall game planning.
“I don’t know the answer,” Roberts said. “I do think we were slow moving in the sense that last year it was short, but you could see we were getting beat with the fastball and we didn’t make that adjustment. So this year there’s a game planning component, but the bottom line is you’ve got to be able to hit off the fastball.”
The Dodgers front office has continued to analyze how being more aggressive could positively shift their run scoring in the postseason, but lacks real concrete answers.
“I think it’s a lot in the prep,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman previously said. “I don’t really know the answer. We went into the ’22 and ’23 playoffs with really good offensive teams that way underperformed. They didn’t really hit the fastball.
“We’ve done a lot of damage over the years on fastballs, and in the playoffs we just haven’t. Whether it’s timing, the time off, I don’t really know what the answer is in terms of the why. So we’re attacking this week a little bit differently and just trying to put our guys in the best position to use the five days to help rest and recover, but also stay synced up and timed up.”
Are the Dodgers impacted by first-round bye?
The Dodgers said they approached their time between the regular season and postseason differently, doing more to stay ready against velocity.
“I think a lot of it is how we’re structuring our practice and being able to utilize a lot of different technologies we have, plus velo machines and making sure we are fully geared up for what we always see is an uptick in fastball velocity and fastball quality in the postseason,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said.
With the Dodgers’ seven-run output in Game 1, more credence with just a dip in performance against Darvish is more believable than a team-wide slump.
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