It’s true… Hollywood’s best All-Star baseball team is losing to our Atlanta Braves because they have failed to heed a lesson from a Hollywood movie.
With the Atlanta Braves up in the National League Championship Series by a 2-0 margin, Dodger writers and fans are coming out of the woodwork to try and explain this most inconvenient turn of events.
After all: how can this 110 win team (counting playoff wins) possibly be bested by the worst division winner in the worst division in baseball?
Dodger fans are understandably looking for answers:
Of course the #Dodgers are more than capable of winning this series, but they're starting to really feel the effects from 1) tough season long division race 2) WC game 3) grueling NLDS 4) injuries. They're gassed right now and need to find a second postseason wind. They will.
— Doug McKain (@DMAC_LA) October 18, 2021
The offense wasting opportunity after opportunity in the first two games of the series. There is no other answer
— KershGawd (@KershGawd) October 18, 2021
Dumb luck on sequencing of hits.
— Nothing Man (@Nothing___Man) October 18, 2021
I would've used Bruihl for the 8th, rather than Urías, but this one is on the lack of offense.
None of these get to the heart of their problem, though. The answer is more straightforward.
Blame the Sicilian.
Yes. It’s about Vizzini, the brilliant Sicilian criminal mastermind from the cult movie “The Princess Bride”.
If you haven’t seen this 1987 low-budget cult-classic flick… you must. If you have seen it but don’t remember what I’m referring to, then please see this clip of the scene.
Vizzini represents the Dodgers in this outrageous metaphor. Dave Roberts, his staff, and his Front Office overlords have convinced themselves that they have the master plan to defeat all comers this post-season. (No… Dave isn’t the Dread Pirate Roberts!)
They have bested the Cardinals (thanks to a timely walk-off homer) and the Giants thus far by using a formula that attempts to play matchup games with as many hitters as possible.
That leads to box scores like these:
- Wild Card game: 6 pitchers used. Only Max Scherzer threw more than 1.2 innings.
- NLDS Game 4: 6 pitchers used (Walker Buehler 4.1).
- NLDS Game 5: 6 pitchers used (Julio Urias 4… but not used until the 3rd)
- NLCS Game 1: 8 pitchers used (Tony Gonsolin: led the staff with 1.2 innings)
- NLCS Game 2: 7 pitchers used (Scherzer 4.1)
We talk a lot about playing position players “out of position” and that they are better off in the spots on the field that they normally play.
This extends all over the diamond: starting fielders want to start consistently, and at the position they are accustomed to. Bench guys generally are best when they know when and how they will be used.
Likewise, starting pitchers have a routine about how they get ready to pitch on their given start day, and even bullpen relievers are happiest when they know their roles and can start getting ready at given points during the game.
That’s… eh, not how the Dodgers are treating their pitching this October.