The Plight of a 106-Win Wild Card Team

Before the start of the 2021 MLB season, the reigning World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers were sitting pretty. They had returned the majority of their World Series roster, losing a couple of fan-favorites in Kiké Hernandez and Joc Pederson, and added the 2020 Cy Young winner, Trevor Bauer (in what appears now to be a terrible exercise in judgment). The team’s younger stars, Dustin May and Will Smith, had gained valuable postseason experience and had come up big during the playoffs. They were both poised for breakout 2021 seasons. Julio Urías had ascended to become the clutch pitcher fans believed he could be, the kind you could rely on to close out a series. Mookie Betts had delivered in every possible way in his first season with the Dodgers. Corey Seager and Cody Bellinger, homegrown talents, came up with big hits and incredible defense in big situations for the Blue Crew, and Kershaw had finally got that damn postseason monkey off his back. Good vibes everywhere in LA.

Two weeks into the season, the Dodgers were 11 – 2, and despite losing Cody for an extended period of time to a fractured fibula (ended up missing 46 games), it felt like they were going to cruise to a ninth consecutive National League West division title and make good on the predictions that they would break the single season wins record of 116, set by the 1906 Cubs. Then, baseball happened, and the bottom completely fell out for the Dodgers. An already thin bullpen lost Corey Knebel to the 60-day IL towards the end of April. David Price got hurt and was out for a couple of weeks. Dustin May’s elbow blew up in early May, and he was done for the season. Three days later, Edwin Ríos hurt his shoulder and needed surgery, which put him out for the season, too. Same thing with Scott Alexander, a critical piece to the bullpen. Done for the season. The hits, not the baseball kind that lead to runs and wins, kept on coming. Seager gets beaned by a pitch that fractures his right hand and puts him on the IL until the end of July. Cody comes back from injury, struggles at the plate, and then gets hurt again a couple more times. Mookie gets hurt and misses time. AJ Pollock’s hamstrings start straining, left and right, and he’s out of the lineup for a total of 33 games. In July, Kershaw’s left elbow starts giving him shit again, and he misses two months only to return in September, only to then get injured again (same elbow) and get scratched for the rest of the season and the playoffs. That loss hurt the most. He’s been the face of the Dodgers for so long, one of the greatest pitchers of this generation, and seeing him walk off the mound early during a Friday night start in the final series of the season because his arm hurts too much to pitch might be the last time Dodgers fans see Kersh play for their team. On top of all the injuries the Blue Crew endured, Trevor Bauer was accused of sexual assault, a case in which he is still involved. He didn’t throw another pitch for the Dodgers this season and likely won’t ever again, guilty or not.

To make matters worse for the Dodgers, the mothereffing San Francisco Giants came out of absolutely nowhere to win 107 games and the division, killing the Dodgers reign over the NL West. However, there’s no crying in baseball, and even with all the adversity the team faced, things weren’t all bad this season for the Dodgers.

Tío Albert arrived early in the season, bringing positive clubhouse vibes and bear hugs to the clubhouse. Alex Vesia and Phil Bickford emerged to anchor the bullpen, and Kenley Jansen returned to his dominating, All-Star closer form. Mariachi Joe got healthy and threw gas. Blake Treinen and Walker Buehler stayed healthy and pitched consistently well all year long. Andrew Friedman worked his trade deadline magic and flipped Dodger prospects for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner (WHAT?!). “El Culichi” became the first 20-game winner in the NL since the aforementioned Scherzer did it in 2016 with the Washington Nationals, and the first Dodger to win 20 games since Kershaw pulled off that feat in 2014. The depleted starting rotation featured three Cy Young candidates in Buehler, Scherzer, and “El Culichi” Urías. Oh, and the San Diego Padres, the preseason baseball “experts” pick to unseat the Dodgers and win the franchise’s first World Series ever completely shit the bed halfway through the season and finished 79-83, good enough for 3rd place in the NL West, a staggering 28 games out of first place. That’s some stinky boo-boo right there.

The Dodgers won 106 games, one worse than the Giants. They had plenty of opportunities to beat the Hated Ones head-to-head during the regular season, and ended up going 9 – 10 against them. Not good. Not good enough to win the division, so now they sit in the NL Wild Card game, facing the St. Louis Cardinals, who rose from the grave like the walking dead just in time for spooky season, winning 17 games in a row to close out September and earn their spot in tonight’s winner-take-all contest against the (allow me to repeat myself) 106-win LA Dodgers. FML. There’s no crying in baseball, though.

Here’s Why I’m Worried

The Dodgers and Cardinals have faced off five times in the playoffs, and the Dodgers have only won once, in the 2009 National League Division Series, a best of five tilt that the Dodgers swept. The other four series the Red Birds have won decisively. Now, it’s one game, and anything can happen in an elimination game like this.

The Cardinals are starting Adam Wainwright, who has been sipping from the fountain of youth this season, and who dominated the Dodgers the last time he faced them in early September, right around the time the Cardinals started that stupid ass winning streak they went on to get the second Wild Card spot. The Dodgers bats can get ice cold against great pitchers, which, last time I checked, was not how you win a baseball game.

The Cards play excellent defense, always seems to come through in the clutch, and have two studs in Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt who are familiar with the Dodgers because they played most of their careers in the same division. Goldschmidt in particular loves to crush homeruns against the Blue Crew. 

So, yeah, that’s why I’m worried.

Here’s Why I'm Not Worried

Max Scherzer is pitching for the Dodgers. “Mad Max” Scherzer. His last two starts were terrible, which means he has a Grand Canyon-sized chip on his shoulder. I like that and will take it against any baseball team.

I just did some quick math, and in the final six games of their season, the Dodgers scored 47 runs, all at home. 26 of those runs came against the Milwaukee Brewers pitching, which features a Cy Young candidate in Corbin Burnes. Not bad for a team that usually flexes noodle bats against top-tier pitching.

The Dodgers are the defending World Champs. They have a lot of playoff experience. They’re getting hot at the right time, winning 15 straight home games, and they have the spirit of Tommy Lasorda shining down on them from Blue Heaven. They weathered the storm of the regular season, and now they are going to ride the lightning right through the playoffs.

Win or lose, I won’t be crying.