There is no need for Dodgers fans to be upset about the season or even about the way the World Series turned out. The phrase “National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers” still sounds pretty good.
It had been 29 years since the Dodgers had been in the World Series and I’m not about to get all anguished about them losing. I just hope it doesn’t take them another 29 years to get back to the Series.
I’d be 90.
Of course, it’s easy to be philosophical in defeat when Game 7 brought such an early and complete defeat. It’s amazing what giving up five runs in the first two innings can do to all the nervousness you were feeling before the game began. Suddenly one’s thoughts start turning to other things: “I wonder who the Rams are playing Sunday,” and “Are the Lakers any good this year?”
There are nothing but good thoughts for the Houston Astros, who are a remarkable team and who absolutely deserved to win their first world championship. Even first baseman Yuli Gurriel, whose ill-advised actions toward Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish gave Los Angeles fans someone to boo, made up for them with the right words and a tip of his helmet toward Darvish.
The Astros brought the people of Houston a measure of joy after sustaining such damage from Hurricane Harvey. Who would deny them that?
The 2017 World Series produced every emotion it possibly could have, such a roller coaster from one night to the next. Even one inning to the next. But when it came to Game 7 on Wednesday night, the Astros made it anticlimactic. All the drama was sucked out of Dodger Stadium within the first hour.
I suppose it’s just human nature, flawed as it is, to want to assess blame for failure. You could look at Cody Bellinger, likely the National League Rookie of the Year, who was unable to keep from swinging at bad pitches. He struck out 17 times in 28 at-bats, a World Series record.
You could look at Yasiel Puig. He did hit two home runs, but his tongue-wagging declined dramatically as he hit just .148 in the Series. You could look at Justin Turner, who appeared to be running on fumes in the World Series. He hit just .160 and may be nursing untold injuries. Or how about Austin Barnes? He hit so well in the regular season, he pushed Yasmani Grandal out of the catching position. But Barnes hit .174 in the Series.
The Astros knew just how to stifle the Dodgers’ bats. Los Angeles hit just .205 in the World Series and .200 with runners in scoring position (the Astros hit .230 and .260 respectively). Houston didn’t have as good an earned-run average as L.A. (4.64 to 4.45), but the Dodgers gave up 15 home runs to the Astros’ 10.
But if you want to know the true reason the Dodgers lost the World Series to the Astros, don’t look on the field. Look in the front office.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman made a July 31 deadline deal with the Texas Rangers to land Darvish. Then, a month later, the Astros made a waiver-deadline deal with the Detroit Tigers just moments before the deadline to make him eligible to play in the postseason.
That was the difference.
The Astros had a dependable starter that mostly plowed through the playoff competition while the Dodgers had a starter that had never really lived up to the hype he had when the Rangers signed him out of Japan. Darvish has won fewer and fewer games each season since his initial 16-9 start in 2012 and could never really be considered a dominant pitcher. He was an overall 10-13 this season, 4-3 with the Dodgers.
His playoff victories for the Dodgers over Arizona in the NL Division Series and over Chicago in the NL Championship Series were pleasant surprises because they were his first two postseason victories against two losses. Darvish had an 5.40 playoff ERA before coming to the Dodgers.
The Astros had faced Darvish plenty of times in the American League West and they were merciless against him in the World Series. They beat him twice and neither time could Darvish go any further than 1⅔ innings. He gave up four runs in each start and wound up with a Series ERA of 21.60.
Verlander won all five of his starts with the Astros with a 1.06 ERA. He was 4-1 in the postseason. Surprisingly, that one loss was to the Dodgers in Game 6 of the World Series. He had a no-decision in Game 2, but the Astros pulled that game out 7-6 in 11 innings.
Verlander is under contract for two more seasons; Darvish was merely a rental and is now a free agent.
So while the World Series lasted until Nov. 1, the season for the Dodgers actually was lost July 31.
BASEBALL ALIVE AND WELLFor a long time it has seemed like people were trying to sound the death knell for baseball. Too slow, too boring, too druggy.
Well, some of that still comes into play, particularly with pace of play, but a stellar postseason has put a cap on a great 2017 season.
Game 7 of the World Series earned an 18.8 big-market overnight rating and a 31% share of the market Wednesday night for Fox. That’s the second highest rating for any baseball broadcast since Game 7 in 2002 between the Angels and Giants (19.8/28).
Understandably, Wednesday’s rating was 25% lower than last year’s frenetic Cubs-Indians Game 7 (25.2), but it was up 24% over the Giants-Royals Game 7 in 2014 (15.2), as well as Cardinals-Rangers Game 7 in 2011 (14.1). The Royals-Mets series in 2015 went just five games.
In Houston the game had a 47.1 rating, marking the best figure on record in the market for a baseball telecast, and peaked at 51.2/76. Los Angeles had a 36.7 local rating. For Game 6 on Tuesday (a 3-1 Dodgers win), L.A. had a 30.9 rating and 53 share, peaking at 40.0/60 in the final 15 minutes. Houston had a 41.8/60.
THAT’S THE BALLGAMEAnd so now the season is fall and we’re hurtling headlong toward winter. Baseball is over and right on the top of that will be the return to standard time with nights becoming darker sooner and the weather colder and wetter.
It’s always been fascinating to me how the beginning of baseball season comes with springtime and optimism and the end of baseball season comes with autumn and pessimism.
But wow. Imagine how bad I’d be like if I lived on the East Coast.
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