They’re down, but no way are they out.
Just ask the vanquished foes of past postseasons how difficult it is to bury the Los Angeles Dodgers. They might have a few cautionary words for the Milwaukee Brewers, who were opportunistic and practically perfect from the mound in grabbing a 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven National League Championship Series.
Now, the Dodgers are going home, which should help. Yet they will need to clean up a lot – and try something new – to prevent the Brewers from celebrating their first World Series trip since 1982 at Chavez Ravine.
With that, three turnarounds the Dodgers will need to get back in this NLCS:
It’s all on Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow
In losing both Tarik Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s starts, the Dodgers not only forfeited a significant advantage,
but put themselves in a hole. Against the odds, Blake Snell must dig them out of it.
His Game 2 NLDS start against Atlanta – 3 ⅔ innings, five walks, setting the stage for a Dodgers loss that momentarily jeopardized their season – simply can’t be repeated or L.A. will again be back on the brink. Snell was brilliant last postseason, never better than his eight-inning, one-hit, 10-strikeout performance at Milwaukee in the NLCS, showing that despite health woes, Snell got right just in time.
He looked to be on track to pull off that trick again this year. And then, the clunker in the NLDS. The Brewers will take a 3-0 lead if he’s that shaky in Game 3.
As for Glasnow, he was good in his first playoff assignment, giving up just one run yet only recording 13 outs. But he must go deeper this time. Yamamoto’s 2 ⅔-inning start in Game 2 creates a problem for the Dodgers that was originally supposed to a Brewer conundrum: Too many relievers forced to face too many batters too many times.
The Dodgers need quality from Glasnow. They also need length.
Will Smith must come to life
At this point, both Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith can’t be counted on for any offense until 2027. Their physical woes are well-documented. Their production – Ohtani hasn’t homered since Aug. 18, is batting .157 since Aug. 19 and is 3-for-20 in the postseason, Smith 1-for-23 with eight strikeouts – shows no sign of improving.
Manager Dave Roberts long ago moved Ohtani from the top of the order and in Game 2 dropped Smith from third to fifth. Benching Ohtani seems like the only option, lest the Dodgers continue what looks to be a Weekend at Shohei’s set-up, placing him in the batter’s box and hoping the specter of him coming alive will affect the Brewers.
Smith, dogged by a neck injury and out much of the second half, remains a valued receiver in the Dodgers’ pitching-catching universe. Yet Game 2 showed signs he might be letting his hitting affect his defense.
Twice Smith failed to challenge what proved to be ball calls, the first coming in the bottom of the first, when Yamamoto painted the outside corner on Brice Turang with a splitter. Turang doubled, and scored the game-tying run.
Later, Yamamoto practically hit himself in the head questioning whether Smith was going to challenge another pitch, the at-bat resulting in a walk.
“Obviously in that spot, Will didn't feel like it was a strike,” Roberts said of the Turang at-bat, “but obviously if you look back, that's a called third strike, he doesn't double, and that changes the outing.”
Move Kyle Tucker out of oblivion
Simply, the man has been punished enough.
Kyle Tucker, whose quiet demeanor was matched a too-silent first season in Los Angeles, flailed his way to the bottom of the Dodgers lineup, an odd look for the $60 million man. Yet he’s been perhaps their most consistent offensive performer this postseason, putting up strong at-bats, getting on base at a .391 clip and posting an .891 OPS.
In a more perfect Dodger world, he’d be the grim reaper lurking at the bottom of the lineup, a surprise for an opposing pitcher thinking they’d navigated the toughest stretch of it.
Yet the struggles of Ohtani and Smith and Freddie Freeman’s inconsistency – two postseason homers, but a .280 OBP – makes the top of the Dodger card far less imposing as the glitzy, well-paid names might suggest.
Move Tucker back to the high-rent district. He needs to come to the plate more often than almost anyone.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Buried in NLCS hole, Dodgers need these three things to crawl out vs Brewers
