Dodgers in trouble and JMV not hitting

The first two games of the National League Championship Series have been exciting. They have been close and tension-filled. They’ve been dramatic. And yes, they’ve been a little strange.

The curiosity begins with the most important fact produced this weekend: the Atlanta Braves, owners of 88 regular-season wins, have a 2-0 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers, the defending Old Circuit champions who totaled 106 wins in the just-concluded campaign. More important, however, is how we got here. Just like last year, the Braves have dug the corporate Dodgers into a hole.

Will this year’s series end the same way, with a Dodgers comeback to break Braves hearts? Perhaps, picking apart some of the oddities and curiosities of this series will give us a glimpse of what’s to come.

Dodgers bullpen script.
To some extent, postseason games are very much a bullpen chess match at this point in the strategy war. The Dodgers announced they would unleash their relief corps for last Saturday’s Game 1, and boy did they, with a total of eight relievers taking the mound. None got more than five outs.

The Dodgers lost Game 1, but their tactics worked. The Braves scored only three runs, struck out 14 times, struck out six times and traded no tickets. However, those three runs were enough to seal the Braves’ dramatic 3-2 victory on Austin Riley’s ninth-inning hit off righty Blake Treinen.

It was worth a shot, wasn’t it?

The Dodgers had to keep good feelings about their chances of tying the series, as they were counting on future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer for Game 2. Surely, the starter would at least give the Dodgers bullpen some breathing room after the relief corps went through the revolving door last Saturday.

There was a problem, though: Scherzer, pitching after two days’ rest after serving as the closer in Thursday’s deciding game against the San Francisco Giants, wasn’t his usual Scherzer.

“I would say he had a dead arm,” Scherzer said. “When I was warming up, I could tell I was still fatigued.”

Scherzer held on for 4 1/3 innings, conceding Joc Pederson’s huge two-run home run to tie the game in the fourth inning; however, there were still plenty of outs to take out in a tied game. So Dodgers manager Dave Roberts deployed six additional relievers to end the second game. And one of them was left-hander Julio Urias, a 20-game winner in the regular season, who worked the top of the eighth and tolerated the tying runs.

Two days. Thirteen pitching changes. Losing 2-0 in the series. Using the Game 4 starter for a full inning when, at the time, there were other options in the bullpen.

Panic in Hollywood?

No.

First, Roberts emphasized that Urias’ appearance shouldn’t affect his ability to deliver in the scheduled Game 4 opener, largely because Urias, in general, doesn’t add up to a high pitch count. And the Braves’ pitching plan for that game is a matter of chance, though it will likely have to be a bullpen or “opener” pairing.

Similarly, the Dodgers still plan to use Cy Young Award candidate Walker Buehler to face postseason veteran Charlie Morton for Game 3. Hardly a panic-inducing idea.

“Walker is ready,” Roberts expressed. “He’s got a couple more days. So we’ll trust him for Game 3, no question.”

As for Game 5, it could be another showdown for the Dodgers bullpen. Remember this, though: Saturday’s gamble did, in fact, work. And for Game 6, they can turn to a fully rested Scherzer. And Buehler would be ready to pitch in a tentative Game 7.

Still, we can’t forget the most relevant fact of the weekend:

“That’s how the series has played out, and I think both teams are in the same situation,” Roberts said. “Aside from the most important factor: they have a two-games-to-zero lead.

paid at the key moment
Also, for all the attention focused on the Dodgers’ pitching plan in the first two games, the main reason they didn’t win both games is probably the following:

18-2.

That’s the Dodgers’ offensive mark with runners in scoring position so far in the National League Championship Series. Two hits, four walks and one hit in 24 run-scoring opportunities. And they’ve scored three runs in those situations. The Braves total just four touchdowns; however, they’ve had just eight such opportunities in which they’ve produced big, with hits that have sealed ninth-inning victories in two straight games.