Max Muncy has found his swing at the plate recently, which included a walk-off hit against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday and home run in the series finale.
Over the last seven games, he’s hitting .296/.375/.593 and it’s part of a strong season overall. In 126 games, Muncy is batting .213/.335/.496 with 36 home runs, 102 RBI, 89 runs scored and a 123 wRC+.
Muncy’s 36th homer of the season tied a career high, which he set in 2021. It’s likely he’ll end up surpassing that mark and reach 40 homers
“It means a lot, but to me, it’s still been a frustrating season,” Muncy said of tying his career high. “Some of my numbers look pretty good but I feel like with the amount of opportunities that I’ve had, they should be even better.
“But that’s just me personally being hard on myself. It’s still been a very productive year, but I feel like I can be better for this team.”
When Muncy is at his best, he takes a lot of walks, which is something he wasn’t doing early in September. But in his past seven games, he’s drawn four free passes.
Muncy generally has a low batting average, so those walks become important to his ability to contribute to the team by posting a high on-base plus slugging.
“It’s still just trying to stick with my routine every single day and finding something that’s working right now,” Muncy said.
“I’m just trying to stick to my approach at the plate and not come out of it. To me, that’s just been the hardest thing, is not coming out of my approach. That’s definitely the hardest thing.”
Dodgers relying on Max Muncy for postseason
In 2021, the Dodgers did not have Muncy for the postseason, and in 2022 he had a down year while coming back from a major injury.
This year he has been producing at a similar level to previous seasons when he became a star, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expects that to help their offense in the playoffs.
“It’s going to be big,” Roberts said. “Max is a guy that’s had a lot of postseason at-bats. I think just the quality of at-bat, it’s very important having him in the middle of things. It’s big for our lineup.
“For me, there’s always going to be slug, but I like the two-out base hit to drive in a run. I like that too. When he’s hitting a slider or changeup, something offspeed 2-0, you know he’s in a good place mechanically. The swing is so short.
“Now for me, he’s able to cover a lot more pitches and hit to all fields. That just makes him an even more dangerous hitter.”
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