The Los Angeles Dodgers are suddenly in big trouble. After yet another loss Wednesday, the Dodgers find themselves down 3-0 in the National League Championship Series. With another loss, they’ll be eliminated from the postseason.
This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. In year’s past, the Dodgers’ depth and financial muscle won out against the best teams in the game. Something is different this time around and Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy thinks he knows exactly what’s going on.
When asked, Muncy summed things up succinctly saying, “We’re playing like s***.”
Muncy, of course, made sure to give the Milwaukee Brewers credit. After lamenting his own team’s struggles, Muncy added, “[The Brewers] are playing great. It’s as simple as that.”
Much has been made of the struggles of Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani this postseason, but he wasn’t the problem Wednesday. After being dropped to sixth in the batting order, Ohtani reached base three times in the contest.
His overall numbers, however, are still a problem, as Ohtani is hitting just .182 in the series. Many of his teammates have similar batting averages, including Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez and Muncy, none of whom is hitting above .192. Catcher Will Smith is hitting under .100.
While those struggles can be written off as small-sample outcomes … the NLCS is a small sample. All it takes is a few bad games from your star players to decide the outcome of a series. The Dodgers are experiencing that phenomenon right now.
Because of that, though, it won’t take much for the Dodgers to claw their way back into the series. While 3-0 comebacks are highly unlikely, they are not impossible. All it would take is the Dodgers’ stars hitting like they should.
Even then, that might not be enough. In order to stage a comeback, the Dodgers also need the Brewers to give them an opening, which seems unlikely given how well Milwaukee is playing right now.
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