The LAD were 1-6 the last two postseasons.
This year they made it to the World Series.
What did they do differently this year? And which "high ceiling pitching prospects" that they drafted made this possible?
Was it Jack Flaherty? Was it Yamamoto?
The pattern, as I see it, is two straight years of getting swept in the first round of the playoffs.
The takeaway is that the teams were not good enough to win in the playoffs.
The crack in the model, IMHO, is the drafting strategy that excluded high ceiling pitching prospects in the draft. I will concede that that may not have had a huge effect on the 2024 team had the hitters they drafted instead had actually performed well when they came up.
Timing and injury luck were definitely factors, but every team has injuries and bad luck. Depth helps mitigate injuries.
Gunnar is a star, I agree. Adley was not good in 2024. Westburg got hurt.
With regard to how playoff games outweigh regular season games I can only say that "flags fly forever."
Guilty. I watch the second half of the game after I got home. Turns out the Schadenfreude I feel from watching the Yankees lose might win out over my indifference of watching Rob Manfred's dream World Series match up.
I've had better, but we're very much in alignment this off-season, which hasn't often been the case.
They need a RHH OF option. It doesn't have to be a regular, but it has to be somebody who can defend and hit lefties. It's a need but it is a supplemental piece to what is already there.
Same is really true of the bullpen. They need to supplement what they have.
The rotation is a little different, as it always is, because you can literally never have enough great starting pitching. But most of the rotation is already in place. If they spent a lot of money this is where I suspect it would be at. But they don't have to sign a 100+ million FA contract to bring in a guy that can make this rotation championship caliber.
I was surprised to find this thread, not to mention the majority of posts. I love good baseball, and with these two teams' rosters, was hoping I'd see just that. Got to witness some incredible plays (that Edman stop on the RF side of 2B was so pivotal, the Verdugo catch, the fan interference, some gutsy gritty get-out-of-a-jam pitching on both sides).
With all that, I still had to fight the urge to turn it off after the LAD were unable to convert the DP and allowed the go-ahead run in the 8th. As someone above said, I really didn't want to watch the Yankee celebrations.
Instead, I reminded myself that I was watching Ohtani in the WS, against Judge in the WS, and that baseball has a way of turning everything on its head in a flash, and World Series games have an extra zing for the players that makes stars come out of nowhere. I didn't want to miss that.
As usual, I believe I woke up the neighbors when I saw the ball leave FF's bat in the bottom of the 10th. It was pure gold. I feel bad for baseball fans that missed watching that classic, and enjoying the Yankees being taken down. 😆
I think this is the best post you have ever made. Really well said.
I think what CoC was saying is that the BJs had good young talent on offense. The depth of that talent is greatly questioned and yea, their FA signings have larger been failures.
I don’t think people will ever learn that throwing 9 figure deals at aging and soon to be declining players isn’t a smart thing to do…but hey, it makes our payroll number look so much better! Ownership is trying!!!
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.