Chapter 15: 2016, Mister Roberts' team is ultimately pulverized
The Dodgers change managers, but not their amount of postseason success
Coming into the 2016 season, the Dodgers front office did not make too many changes with players, with the exception of signing free agent pitcher Kenta Maeda from Japan. In the dugout, the Dodgers had a new leader, Dave Roberts, who had a mostly new coaching staff with the exception of pitching coach Rick Honeycutt.
Roberts’ previous managerial experience consisted of him leading the Padres for one game the year before the game after Bud Black was fired and before his replacement, Pat Murphy, showed up. The Padres lost Roberts only game in charge, 9-1 to Oakland.
The early returns on Roberts were mixed. In the Dodgers fifth game of the season, rookie Ross Stripling, making his big league debut, no-hit the Giants for 7 1/3 innings before Roberts pulled him after a walk, with the Dodgers up 2-0. Roberts felt that Stripling, returning from shoulder surgery and at 100 pitches, needed to come out. Reliever Chris Hatcher gave up a game-tying home run and the Dodgers eventually lost 3-2 in 10 innings.
The Dodgers chased the Giants, who were hoping to win their fourth World Series in the fourth straight even-numbered year, by eight games at one point, but pulled even in August and won the division going away, by a margin of four games. The Dodgers clinched the division on September 25 at home on a game-ending homer by Charlie Culberson in Vin Scully’s last broadcast at Dodger Stadium. Scully would broadcast the final weekend series in San Francisco and then disappear from the airwaves.
The Dodgers faced the NL East champion Washington Nationals in the Division Series. Game 1 would be a prime pitching matchup between the most recent Cy Young Award winner in Clayton Kershaw versus the pitcher who would win it in 2016, Washington’s Max Scherzer.
Home runs by Rookie of the Year shortstop Corey Seager as well as third baseman Justin Turner, were enough to allow Kershaw and four relievers prevail in a 4-3 game.
The Nationals tied the series in Game 2, winning 5-2 on the strength of a 3-run homer from catcher Jose Lobaton. Back in Los Angeles, the Nationals battered Kenta Maeda and Kenley Jansen in an 8-3 win. The Dodgers forced a decisive Game 5 with a taut 6-5 win after Kershaw gave up five runs.
Going back to Washington, the Dodgers were faced with the task of beating Scherzer a second time. The Dodgers started journeyman lefty Rich Hill, who had become the team’s #2 starter.
The Nats held a 1-0 lead going to the seventh when Joc Pederson hit Scherzer’s first pitch of the inning over the fence to tie the game. Washington manager Dusty Baker then tried five different relievers in the inning, but to no avail. The Dodgers scored four runs in all with Justin Turner tripling home the last two.
The Dodgers primary setup man, Grant Dayton, gave up a 2-run homer to Chris Heisey, and Roberts turned to closer Kenley Jansen in the seventh inning, a move that smacked of desperation. Jansen got out of the seventh and made it past a leadoff walk in the eighth. In the ninth, Jansen gave up two one-out walks. Roberts came out to bring in a fresh arm. That arm would be Clayton Kewshaw’s.
Kershaw faced Daniel Murphy who popped out to second. And this left Washington in a bind as the pitcher’s spot was due and the only pinch hitter left was seldom-used infielder Wilmer Difo. Kershaw struck him out to send the Dodgers to the NLCS.
The Dodgers were up against history in the NLCS. The Chicago Cubs were playing for their first World Series spot since 1945. They had a formidable team that had won 103 games.
The Cubs won game one 8-4 with reliever Joe Blanton giving up a solo homer to Dexter Fowler and a pinch hit grand slam by Miguel Montero.
The Dodgers took a lead in the series with shutouts in Games 2 and 3, 1-0 and 6-0 as Kershaw and Hill confused the Cubs hitters. The Cubs were not phased and won Game 4, 10-0. The Cubs took a series lead back to Chicago with an 8-4 win in Game 5 with Blanton and Pedro Baez giving up seven of the runs.
Roberts hoped that there would be another game of magic in Kershaw’s arm in Game 6. There was no magic. The Cubs led 5-0 after five and Jansen entered the game in the sixth. There was no comeback as Kyle Hendricks and Aroldis Chapman combined for a shutout.
And so, another successful Dodgers regular season had fallen apart in the playoffs. The Narrative of “The Team That Was Not Built for the Playoffs” was reinforced. Clayton Kershaw’s failure to be as successful as Orel Hershiser in 1988 or Madison Bumgarner in 2014 was considered a black mark on his career.
The Dodgers would retool a bit for 2017. And the Narrative would get a slight alteration.
These are terribly good. It is however a bit like re-reading the lettered style writing of Dracula. You know what’s coming when but you can’t stop reading. Tomorrow’s letter could be the toughest yet.
On a less dramatically overblown note: I actually love these so much! They capture the highs of the seasons and the valleys of the post-seasons perfectly.