It was certainly something unforgettable to watch the bookend of the regular season in Seattle. I will have thoughts on Kershaw’s swan song and other shenanigans from the regular season finale later this week.
After returning to Vallejo at 2:30 am on Monday morning, I woke up six hours later with something bothering me. Yes, fatigue weighed on my brow, but something was figuratively gnawing at me. After I read Eric Stephen’s excellent (and awaited) finale of the 2025 in thirds series, I realized that
something did not align with what I saw in Seattle. I had a hunch and checked BaseballReference.com, and sadly, my suspicions were confirmed.
I think everyone is rightfully pointing out the gang of figurative baseball arsonists masquerading as a bullpen as the major weakness of the 2025 Dodgers. That fiasco deserves both scorn and a deep dive whenever the season ends.
Given the inconsistencies in this season’s offense, there is a glaring oversight that everyone is overlooking.
Ground chuck, not filet mignon
Over the last two weeks, the Dodgers have averaged above 4.85 runs per game (63 runs over 13 games) while allowing about 3.23 runs per game (42 runs over the same 13 games). That’s a dog that’ll hunt, as the team has gone 9-4 over that stretch.
Before delving into what I found, which is something that I would be shocked if the Cincinnati Reds did not already know, I should admit my bias for the sake of total clarity.
I wrote off the 2025 Dodgers after the team bungled the finale against the Toronto Blue Jays.
It is hard not to view this regular season campaign as a significant disappointment, considering the talent assembled. At least the players are publicly cognizant of that assessment. Per Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register:
“I guess when this team lost back-to-back DS’s against the Padres and D-backs, that was the narrative – that the bye week cooled us, them off,” said utility man Kiké Hernandez, who was with the Boston Red Sox in 2022. “Now, we don’t have an excuse.
“We did it to ourselves. We were very inconsistent throughout the year, and here we are.”
In a season full of unexpected lows, the finale against the Blue Jays seemed to take the cake. If a team keeps finding creative ways over and over to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, eventually a fan takes the hint.
Here is the kicker, though. The official scorer changed one of Teoscar Hernandez’s “hits” (in the seventh inning) into an error, rendering the above would-be SlangsOnSports special wrong. You be the judge.
I have seen worse called a hit, but c’est la vie. Orel Hershiser thought the dribbler was an error at the time and the scoring was changed to reflect that fact.
At that point, every indicator seemed to point to an embarrassing first-round exit. As a point of order, this essay is not a prediction essay.
Needless to say, for all the agita on that Sunday against the Blue Jays, things got so, so, so much worse. As an aside, people asked how I managed not to lose my mind over Labor Day week. Simple — when you have no expectations apart from your own, disappointment is often an impossibility. This mindset was severely tested over the course of that week.
I am not a saint. For as much glee as I have taken and will continue to take from the New York Mets, sadly, I must take my own medicine by reliving the divine comedy of this moment.
Things did turn, though. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Dodgers effectively ended the San Francisco Giants’ season and indirectly led to venerated manager Bob Melvin being fired by Gerald Posey III, just three months after exercising a contract extension.
The Homer
Yes, the offense seems to be humming. Still, even a cursory examination of slash lines during this period reveals that the offense is coming from fewer sources than you would generally think. While folks are raving about a perceived return to form, the stats do not support that description.
This offense, when in full swing, was supposed to overwhelm opponents off the field. While the team has been winning lately, I could not escape the feeling that the timing was still off. I was expecting a sports car offense for most of the year, and yet for large stretches this year, it has been well, anything but:
For the 13 games to close out the year, the offense has had the following slash lines:
- Shohei Ohtani: (12 games) 14 for 48, 4 2B, 3B, 6 HR, 9 RBI, 6 BB, 18 K; .292/.370/.792
- Mookie Betts: (12 games) 9 for 45, 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 4 BB, 8 K; .200/.250/.356
- Freddie Freeman: (12 games) 12 for 42, 4 HR, 8 RBI, 6 BB, 9 K; .286/.388/.571
- Teoscar Hernández: (11 games) 8 for 40, 2 2B, 3B, HR, 5 RBI, 3 BB, 8 K; .200/.273/.375
- Michael Conforto: (9 games) 5 for 28, HR, 2 RBI, 5 BB, 10 K; .179/.303/.286
- Andy Pages: (13 games) 13 for 48, 4 2B, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 2 BB, 12 K; .271/.300/.542
- Kiké Hernandez: (9 games) 8 for 26, 3 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, BB, 7 K; .308/.321/.654
- Hyeseong Kim: (5 games) 2 for 9, HR, 2 RBI, 4 K; .222/.222/.556
- Miguel Rojas: (11 games) 9 for 34, HR, RBI, BB, 8 K; .265/.286/.441
- Ben Rortvedt: (9 games) 3 for 24, HR, 2 RBI, BB, 5 K; .125/.192/.250
- Tommy Edman: (8 games) 6 for 30, HR, 3 RBI, 3 K; .200/.194/.300
- Max Muncy: (7 games) 3 for 23, 2 HR, 3 RBI, BB, 8 K; .130/.200/.391
- Dalton Rushing: (5 games) 5 for 14, HR, 3 RBI, 3 K; .357/.357/.643
- Alex Call: (10 games) 4 for 15, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 4 K; .267/.333/.533
In case anyone forgot, a batting average of under .200 is bad, an on-base percentage over .330 is good, and a slugging percentage of .500 is good. As you can see, the offense is quite lopsided as of late. It is unfortunate that the team did not bolster its depth at the deadline.
David Vassegh reported that some interesting names now had lockers at Dodger Stadium on Monday.
I see speed and more speed…and somehow less defense. This lineup also misses Will Smith terribly, but maybe Rushing can do some damage if given the opportunity. Personally, Rortvedt nearly calling multiple no-hitters carries some weight.
Right now, in the shortest of short series, if I am Terry Francona, I do not let Ohtani, Freeman, K. Hernandez, or Pages beat me. I make Betts, T. Hernandez, or Conforto do it. And if they can, especially Conforto, who is comically bad when it comes to clutch situations in 2025 (.143 with runners in scoring position and two outs), you tip your cap.
For everyone raving about Betts’ return to classic form, in Seattle, I could not help but notice his bad habits at the plate re-emerging: when he’s off, the pop-ups are high and plentiful, and they were. Teoscar needed an oar to swing at some of the pitches he was offering at in Seattle.
As I have said, this essay is not a predictive one. Maybe the Dodgers live up to their potential and steamroll the postseason tournament. If you tell me from the future that the Dodgers repeat, I would not be surprised. I would probably be equal parts glad and annoyed, considering the inconsistency that the team foisted on us all during the year.
But if you tell me that the Dodgers flounder in the Wild Card round against this opponent, I would be nothing short of shocked.
The fruits of expanded playoffs
If you keep expanding the playoffs, eventually the cream stops rising to the top. If we are being honest with ourselves, the Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds have no business playing playoff baseball in 2025. The Tigers’ collapse is the stuff of legend and will likely be rectified by the Cleveland Guardians.
The Dodgers might have struggled against a New York Mets team that got its act together or a pesky Arizona Diamondbacks squad that was playing with house money. The Giants would not have merited this essay. But the Reds are the beneficiaries of a historic bungling in Queens and are a poster child for the mediocrity the owners want to see in the playoffs.
I am not being unjustifiably dismissive. Over the last month, the Mets were 10-15 and missed just about every opportunity to save their sinking season. The Reds were 14-11, not bad, but certainly not playing on fire. That description would apply to the Guardians (20-7), Yankees (18-7, uh oh), Phillies (17-8, double uh oh), and Mariners (17-8).
As an aside, why the Mariners took this last weekend off with the first-round bye is a puzzler.
For as unbalanced as this series between the Dodgers and Reds is on paper, the Reds have at least a puncher’s chance to knock out the Dodgers at home, thanks to the team’s mismanagement of its summer. The Wild Card Series is the dividend of every boneheaded loss caused by a consistently inconsistent squad. Whether the Dodgers will have the opportunity to exact revenge against the Phillies is a question that will quickly resolve itself over the next three days.
