Chapter 18: 2019, Nothing but Narrative
The Dodgers win the NL West again and every possible postseason narrative plays out in just five games.
After two straight years of losing the World Series, the Dodgers lost their General Manager, Farhan Zaidi, to the Giants, but still kept the same front office philosophy as Andrew Friedman remained as President of Baseball Operations. Friedman added outfielder A.J. Pollock in free agency and brought back Russell Martin for one last season to serve as a backup to Austin Barnes at catcher. Joe Kelly came from beating the Dodgers in the World Series to playing for them the next year.1 The Dodgers parted ways with Matt Kemp and Yasiel Puig sending them and two others to the Reds for assorted minor leaguers.
The Dodgers toyed with the rest of the National League, putting up a 60-32 record at the All-Star Break. There was never a race in the NL West as the Dodgers won by 21 games.
Cody Bellinger won the MVP after having a blistering first month of the season when he batted .431 and hit 14 homers. Bellinger finished the year with 47 home runs.
Clayton Kershaw dealt with some nagging injuries but he still managed to make 28 starts, finishing 16-5, but with a 3.03 ERA, way beyond what was expected. And he gave up 28 homers, which was a lot for him. Closer Kenley Jansen had 33 saves, but a relatively high ERA for his job at 3.71.
The Dodgers opponent in the Division Series would be star-laden and star-crossed Washington. The Nationals had always been deep in talent and had disappointed in the playoffs every year, including 2016 when the Dodgers beat them in five games.
Bryce Harper had left Washington in free agency, but the Nationals remained formidable behind the pitching of Steven Strasburg and Max Scherzer.
The Dodgers Game 1 starter was not Kershaw, but rather Walker Buehler. He faced Patrick Corbin as Scherzer and Strasburg both pitched in the wild card game win over Milwaukee. The Dodgers picked up a deceptively easy 6-0 win.
In Game 2, Kershaw faced Strasburg. Kershaw was not sharp and Washington led 3-0 after two innings. Strasburg fanned 10 Dodgers in six innings of work. Three Nationals relievers, including Scherzer for an inning, closed out a 4-2 win.
Game 3 was another easy win for the Dodgers. Washington manager Dave Martinez again tried a starter in relief, bringing in Patrick Corbin. But the Dodgers, torched Corbin for six runs in just 2/3 of an inning. The Dodgers rolled 10-4.
Washington staved off elimination in Game 4, winning 6-1 with Scherzer making his first start of the series. Rich Hill didn’t get out of the third inning, but the Dodgers bullpen had even more problems.
And so the series returned to Los Angeles for a Buehler vs. Strasburg matchup. Home field and more rest for Buehler favored the Dodgers. But the game did not go to plan. And Dodgers fans still wonder just what Dave Roberts plans were.
Home runs by Max Munchy and Enrique Hernandez gave the Dodgers an early 3-0 lead. Buehler was crusing until the sixth when Soto drove in Anthony Rendon to cut the lead to 3-1.
In the seventh, Buehler let two Nats hitters reach base and Roberts turned to his bullpen. And called on Clayton Kershaw to face Adam Eaton. And Eaton struck out on three pitches.
Then came the eighth. Kershaw threw just three pitches. One was hit over the fence by Rendon. The other was sent out by Soto. The game was tied 3-3. Kershaw looked incredulous. He was replaced by Kenta Maeda, who struck out the side.
With the season on the line, Roberts went to his pen again in the ninth and brought in … Joe Kelly. Kelly had been erratic in the regular season with a 4.56 ERA in 51 innings. He had also been hurt during the season. And the Nationals had hit him hard in his last appearance in Game 3.
Kelly retired the side in order in the ninth, but the tenth was another matter. The first three Nationals reached. Would Roberts bring in Kenley Jansen? Or had he lost confidence in him. Former Dodger Howie Kendrick came up. Kelly got ahead 0-1 and then gave up a grand slam that quieted the Dodger Stadium crowd entirely. Two batters later, Jansen finally came in. But as they say, the damage was already done. The Dodgers surrendered meekly in the 10th. The Nats, en route to their first ever World Series championship, won this series in five games, winning Game Five 7-3.
Roberts was pilloried in the the press for using Kershaw in relief (although the gambit worked in 2016 and 2018) and even more so for going to Kelly ahead of Jansen in the ninth and tenth. And, even worse, sending out Kelly for a second inning and not taking him out before he had a chance to load the bases.
106 regular season wins all were for naught. The Narrative demanded Clayton Kerhaw postseason failure and Dave Roberts bullpen mismanagement. The Dodgers were now the team doomed not to win it all because they relied too much on numbers instead of their instincts.
Or maybe they were just unlucky. No, it’s the Narrative.
The next year, the Dodgers would add a superstar. And the world would face its own mortality. And not like it one bit.
The last player before Kelly to beat the Dodgers in a World Series and then come back to play for them in the next season was outfielder Gary Thomasson in 1979.
One more day. Wait one more day and I am pretty certain that things will turn around. Don’t worry about the day after that. Or the day after the day after that.