Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images
Magic once again said it best.
The Los Angeles Dodgers won 100 games this season, the most in the National League. The Arizona Diamondbacks, meanwhile, backed into the playoffs as shamelessly as possible: their 84 wins were the lowest total of any team to qualify for the postseason this year, and their four-game losing streak to end the regular season didn’t exactly instill confidence in the fanbase heading into the tournament.
The Diamondbacks upset the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Wild Card Series to set up a matchup with the mighty Dodgers. No one gave Arizona much of a chance in the series, but the team did the unthinkable anyways.
The Diamondbacks swept the Dodgers, 3-0, in the best-of-five series to advance to the NLCS. Arizona out-scored LA 19-6 overall in the series, and in reality it didn’t even feel that close.
There can and will be thousands of words spilled about the Dodgers’ postseason failure, but this post by minority co-owner and NBA legend Magic Johnson does a perfect job of summing everything up.
We’re all disappointed that our Dodgers didn’t hit or pitch well. That’s why we lost the Series to the Diamondbacks!
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) October 12, 2023
Thank you, Magic.
The Dodgers were just unbelievably bad in this series. Let’s start with the pitching: Dodgers’ starters somehow amassed only 4 2⁄3 innings throughout the sweep, and posted a ridiculous 25.07 ERA. Arizona’s starters had a 1.10 ERA in 16 1⁄3 innings.
For the series, Dodgers’ hitters finished with a .177 batting average. That is not a typo. The team’s .498 OPS in the series was all-time bad.
Lowest team OPS in a postseason series, Dodgers:
.417 1966 World Series (4 gms)
.425 1996 NLDS (3)
.477 1920 World Series (7)
.498 2023 NLDS (3)
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) October 12, 2023
Dodgers star Mookie Betts posted a .987 OPS during the regular season. In the series vs. Arizona, he went 0-for-11 with one walk … good for a .083 OPS. You can’t make this stuff up.
The Dodgers are presumed to be the favorites to sign Shohei Ohtani during free agency this winter. Of course, spending money has never been an issue for LA. The Dodgers can hang their hat on winning the World Series in the Covid-shortened season of 2020. Aside from that? Their postseason runs have been a disaster. This one might be the most embarrassing yet.
