Los Angeles Dodgers' NLDS moves, pitching gambles coming back to haunt them
By Pedro Moura
FOX Sports MLB Writer
After his team fell behind two games to none to a Braves team it won 18 more games than this season, Dave Roberts insisted Sunday night in Atlanta that the National League Division Series is not still impacting the Dodgers.
The manager noted that his team is perennially prepared to play in October. That part is certainly true, but Max Scherzer, L.A.'s Game 2 starter in this NLCS, also said that his arm was dead during his start. Would his arm have been dead if he hadn't pitched the ninth inning of the deciding game against the Giants three days earlier?
The Dodgers’ decision to use Scherzer to finish off their rivals obviously worked, so it’s difficult to criticize it. But that move has also created enough of a domino effect that it’s fair to wonder if it was necessary or prudent. Julio Urías threw 59 pitches in that game. Blake Treinen threw 12. Kenley Jansen threw 15.
None of them could have obtained three more outs in a must-win game?
Using Scherzer in Game 5 meant he wasn’t ready for a full-length start in Game 1 of the NLCS on Saturday against the Braves, forcing the Dodgers to begin with a bullpen game. It also curtailed the pitch count Scherzer was good for in Sunday’s Game 2: only 79 pitches, the third-fewest he has thrown in his 21 career postseason starts.
On those two other occasions, he was ineffective. He was not at his best Sunday, but he was reasonably effective.
Further, because Scherzer went only 4 1/3 innings Sunday and because Urías went only four innings Thursday, Roberts felt compelled to call Urías into Sunday’s game for an inning of relief that the club hoped would function like his between-starts bullpen session.
That, you likely already know, didn’t work.
The Braves rallied for two runs against him. With the game then tied, Roberts pivoted from his plan to follow Urías with Jansen and inserted the flame-throwing Brusdar Graterol. When the Braves moved a baserunner to second base, Roberts summoned Jansen anyway. They lost the game on his first pitch.
If the Dodgers were willing to use Graterol in a tied situation, why not use him in place of Urias and preserve their starter?
Now, if the Dodgers can get this series back to Atlanta next weekend, they should be in OK shape. Scherzer would be lined up to start Game 6, fully rested, and Walker Buehler the same for Game 7.
But the problem is the Dodgers must win two of the next three games in Los Angeles to bring the series back to Atlanta, and currently, they can be sure they will have a fully rested starter in only one of those games: Buehler in Game 3. In the others, they will be relying on Urías and, likely, another bullpen game.
Roberts allowed that Urías could be limited come Game 4 but expressed confidence that would not be the case. If he is, the Dodgers are in trouble.
There are reasons besides pitching arrangements that the Dodgers are losing this series. Chiefly, the Braves are better than their 88-win regular season would suggest. It’s illuminating that they have been able to score this series despite Freddie Freeman’s inability to make contact. Theirs is a well-constructed roster, buttressed by deadline-deals after the midseason losses of Ronald Acuña Jr. and Marcell Ozuna.
This is not new. After overcoming them last year, many Dodgers proclaimed that the 2020 Braves were the second-best team they had met during any of their numerous recent playoff runs, after only the 2018 Red Sox. (No one knew how to rank the 2017 Astros.)
And the Dodgers’ hitters have not come alive as expected, even after accounting for Max Muncy’s absence. Consider that the entire Dodgers offense has mustered seven home runs in eight playoff games. Kiké Hernández and Joc Pederson, two longtime Dodgers, have hit eight home runs in these playoffs, of course for other teams. Pederson’s two-run shot off Scherzer on Sunday hindered the Dodgers.
Justin Turner, the Dodgers’ usual postseason cornerstone, has not hit like himself. He was also not himself in the season’s second half, when he posted pedestrian numbers. He’s also hurt, with what Roberts has described as a neck stinger.
Trea Turner has also not been at his best. Many nights this month, the Dodgers’ offense has seemingly been limited to Nos. 1-2 hitters Mookie Betts and Corey Seager, catcher Will Smith and maybe one other player having a good day: Gavin Lux or Chris Taylor or, once, AJ Pollock.
When this series began, the Dodgers were the overwhelming favorites to advance to the World Series. That was even the case after Game 1. It’s no longer the case. But if Buehler comes through Tuesday afternoon, the path to victory will look a lot clearer.
Pedro Moura is the national baseball writer for FOX Sports. He most recently covered the Dodgers for three seasons for The Athletic. Previously, he spent five years covering the Angels and Dodgers for the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times. More previously, he covered his alma mater, USC, for ESPNLosAngeles.com. The son of Brazilian immigrants, he grew up in the Southern California suburbs. Follow him on Twitter @pedromoura.
