After a long 162-game season and the wild card round has finished, the stage has been set for a thrilling National League Divisional series. The National League West winner, the Los Angeles Dodgers will face the hottest team in baseball: the San Diego Padres. This is the third time in the past five seasons that the pair has faced off in the playoffs.
This will be Shohei Ohtani’s first postseason experience, as the Angels never managed to clinch a postseason berth. The World Baseball Classic gave Ohtani the closest thing to a playoff moment, when he led Japan to the title against the U.S. Ohtani has had a phenomenal season in 2024, putting up MLB’s first-ever 50-50 season and a career-best .310 batting average, but can he do it where it matters most?
The Dodgers will look to bounce back after experiencing two heartbreaking postseasons in a row. Last year, the Arizona Diamondbacks swept them in embarrassing fashion in the NLDS.
The big question for the Blue Crew will be if superstars Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman show up. Betts had a forgettable postseason last year as he didn’t get a single hit. Freeman played disappointingly as well, batting .100 with only one hit in three playoff games.
Luckily, at the trade deadline, the Dodgers made some key transactions. General Manager Andrew Friedman traded for heat thrower Michael Kopech, ace Jack Flaherty and Gold Glove utility player Tommy Edman.
Those additions have certainly helped the team, but will all the chips fall into place for LA? We’ll see, but Dodgers fans like myself know that especially when expectations are high, heartbreak lies just around the corner.
Not to mention the many key pitching injuries the Dodgers will have to work around. The list includes Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow, Gavin Stone, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May and pitching Shohei Ohtani—whose two-way status was put on hold this year due to an offseason elbow surgery.
Even with those concerns, I’m confident the Dodgers could get the job done this postseason. The offense is too stacked to not make any noise once again. The team ranked top three in homers in the regular season, top two in runs batted in and top four in hits—that’s pedigree.
Yes, the starting rotation is the major question, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Flaherty have had great seasons. Since joining the Dodgers, Flaherty has put up a 3.58 ERA, while Yamamoto posted a 3.00 ERA in his rookie season. Not to mention Walker Buehler, who looked like the Buehler of old in his latest outing. In his last start—which clinched the NL West—against the Padres, Buehler threw five innings and only allowed just one run. The bullpen has also been consistently strong, ranking in the top 13 even as it suffered many injuries.
Yamamoto will take the ball for game one, then Flaherty will start for game two. Finally, big game pitcher Walker Buehler will come in for game three, with a potential sweep on the line should all go as LA hopes it will.
The last series in 2022 between these teams was one to forget for the Dodgers, as they completely crumbled and lost 3-1 in one of the more heartbreaking losses in recent Dodger memory. That season, the Dodgers had won a historic 111 games—the most in team history—and won the division by 22 games.
My prediction is the Boys in Blue achieve their revenge in a tough grueling series that goes to five games. Although Manny Machado and his squad are sure to put up a fight, it won’t be enough for the showtime. Now, let’s enjoy the thrill of the MLB playoffs.