A Disappointing Finish

It was a fun season for the Dodgers, but a disappointing finish.  They lost for three reasons:

1.  Their best pitcher (and the best pitcher in the world) didn't get the job done.
2.  Their bullpen stunk.
3.  They only scored six runs the last three games of the series.

Everybody knows how much I love Clayton Kershaw.  I heard a podcast talking about how Kershaw's numbers against the Cardinals aren't that bad.  Except for ERA.  The rest of his numbers are slightly worse than his numbers against the rest of the league.  And you would expect that because the Cardinals are a consistently good team.  But this is where statistics can be used to prove anything.  The Cardinals being able to hit Kershaw is a thing until he proves that it isn't.  I don't care what fielding independent pitching and all these other crazy statistics say, he hasn't gotten the job done against the Cardinals in the playoffs the last two years.  Of course, if all 30 teams redrafted the entire league, Kershaw is the first pitcher taken.  And deservedly so.  I'm looking forward to another great year from Kershaw in 2015.  Hopefully the Dodgers can avoid the Cardinals in the playoffs next year.

I wrote before about how the Dodgers weren't that good without Kershaw pitching this year.  In the regular season, they went 23-4 with Kershaw on the mound and they were slightly over .500 with anybody else.  Well, in the playoffs, they were 0-2 with Kershaw on the mound and 1-1 with anybody else.  That wasn't good enough.  Their bullpen stunk.  I don't think there's an easy fix for that.  Great relievers become closers and aren't available during the offseason.  Other relievers might be really good one year and not so good the next year.  You need to develop good young arms.  Chris Withrow looked like he might be one of those guys for the Dodgers early this year, but then he needed Tommy John surgery.  So I don't know how to fix it, but I have to believe that the Dodgers' bullpen will be at least a little better next year.

As for the hitting, it wasn't good for the last three games, but I'm not too concerned.  They were hitting really well at the end of the season.  You just have to give the Cardinals credit.  A.J. Ellis was outstanding in the playoffs (one of the few Dodgers that was), but they need more production from the catcher position in the regular season.  I'd love to have Ellis as a backup catcher who caught Kershaw (he loves Ellis) and maybe one other game every two times through the rotation.  I would probably let Hanley Ramirez go in free agency.  He can't play shortstop anymore (although he actually did make a couple of nice plays in the field in the playoffs).  That would definitely mean losing something at the plate, but I'd be willing to trade Ramirez's hitting and high salary for a guy that will field better and not cost as much.  And they have to figure out what to do with the outfield.  I think they should be willing to move anybody other than Yasiel Puig.  I love Andre Ethier, but if anybody wants to give him a starting job, the Dodgers have to make that move.  Carl Crawford was great late in the season, but I don't think anybody will want to pay him.  There might be some teams interested in Scott Van Slyke.  I like him and he doesn't have a big salary, but if the Dodgers can get something for him, they should.  Matt Kemp was great in the second half.  It's a good thing they didn't trade him before the trade deadline.  Now that he has some value again, I think I'd try to sell high on Kemp.  Joc Pederson has done everything there is to do in the minors.  He should either be playing for the Dodgers next year or they should trade him.

I love baseball and the Dodgers.  It really hurt this year losing so quickly.  Last year, the season ended the night I flew to Chicago for the USC game.  The good thing was that instead of going to work the next day, I got to watch Notre Dame beat USC.  I was not happy to go to work on Wednesday after the Dodgers were eliminated.

I'm already thinking about what games I'll go to next season.  The Dodgers play in Cincinnati in late August and I still have to get there, so that's a possibility.  I have to get to Anaheim also, so I'd like to figure out how to combine that with another trip to Dodger Stadium.  And they're in New York for a four-game series starting on my dad's birthday, so I'll probably go to at least one of those games.

I'm definitely rooting for the Royals now.  They're a great story and I really like their stadium.  And they wear the same colors as the Dodgers.  As for the National League, I'm now haunted by Part 8 of Why I Love Baseball.  I still respect the Cardinals, but I really hate them now.  If I rewrote my Sports Hate Power Rankings, they'd be in the top 10.  But they're playing the number 3 team on that list.  So let's go Cardinals!  I'm not happy about rooting for them, but I have no choice.