There was a time not long ago the Los Angeles Dodgers were erasing deficits at will, putting together winning streaks, and looking every bit of a juggernaut. They became a heavy favorite to win the National League pennant and World Series.
But an August series with the Milwaukee Brewers halted the Dodgers in their tracks. They dropped a series for the first time since June 5-7, and it’s sent them into a downward spiral. Los Angeles enters Thursday mired in a 5-20 stretch.
They became the first team in MLB history to win 15 of 16 and lose 15 of 16 games in the same season, and that skid included an 11-game losing streak, which was the franchise’s longest since 1944.
After suffering three consecutive losses, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts interrupted the daily hitters meeting to deliver a message, per Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times:
“It was like, this is what we’ve got,’” Roberts said. “We’ve got 11 days left. Let’s band together, and let’s understand what’s at stake. Because this is a golden opportunity. At the end of the season, when that last out is made, we can all look back and know we left everything we possibly could on the field for each other.”
Roberts’ words did not fall on deaf ears, as the Dodgers rallied for three runs in the seventh inning to take lead. They’d been held to just one run — on Chris Taylor’s homer in the third — through the first six innings.
Even after the bullpen failed to protect the lead, this time on the watch of Ross Stripling, the Dodgers manufactured a run in the eighth to tie the game. The Phillies responded with two runs of their own and came away with a 7-5 win.
Roberts addressing the hitters, not common by his standards, can be interpreted as carrying forward his call for urgency over the remaining days of the regular season. The Dodgers are in strong standing to clinch a fifth consecutive NL West title but have seen their lead for best overall record dramatically erode in the past three-plus weeks.
