After back-to-back World Series championships, three in the last seven years, a 100-win season and yet another National League Championship Series berth, the Los Angeles Dodgers were primed to win a third straight championship this year.
“A three-peat would be amazing, just as a sports fan,” said Daniela Kent Torres, a third-year PhD student at USC.
But what could have been a historic run is now in jeopardy as the No. 1-seeded Milwaukee Brewers have won the first three games of the series and could complete the sweep Thursday night.
Despite their recent triumphs, the Dodgers have struggled offensively this postseason with a team batting average of .188 and 42 hits, compared to the Brewers’ .263 average and 60 hits.
Dillon Zamperin, a sophomore journalism major at USC and longtime Dodgers fan, said the team’s lackluster performance has been frustrating.
“You have a team that is able to do well, that has shown time and time again that they can compete,” said Zamperin, a sports editor at the Daily Trojan. “But the bottom line is, the Brewers are the better team.”
During Wednesday’s Game 3, the Dodgers pitching staff recorded 11 strikeouts while surrendering eight hits, showing some fight in a series where nothing has gone the team’s way.
Starter Blake Snell had a positive performance for six innings, allowing only one run from a solo home run on the first pitch of the game. It all came crashing down, though, in the seventh, when he surrendered three runs and two home runs.
After the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts defended his decision to leave Snell in until the seventh, saying he was pitching well and wanted to get an extra inning out of him to protect the bullpen.
Veteran third baseman Miguel Rojas said Thursday’s outcome will depend on whether the Dodgers can get their bats going.
“We have an amazing pitching staff, and it’s really hard to pitch when you have no run support,” Rojas said in an interview following Game 3. “That’s on us. Offensively, we have not done what we are supposed to do.”
Superstar and four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani, who has been dealing with lingering injuries this season, had many fans questioning if the team should continue to start him, while others still have faith. Ohtani, who is in the middle of a 10-year, $700-million contract, has struck out seven times this postseason and has only three hits in six games.
Nevertheless, Roberts moved Ohtani back to the leadoff spot in the lineup for Thursday’s do-or-die game.
“I think he’s definitely playing with an injury, but I say trust your guy,” sophomore journalism major Zane Woods said. “If Shohei says he’s good, he’s good.”
So, can the Dodgers come back and win the series trailing 3-0 in a best-of-seven series?
“Anything is possible,” Torres said. “So far what they’ve been doing hasn’t been working. They have to change it up tonight. They have to figure out what it is that’s been missing, and then they have to do that moving forward.”
The only other team to bounce back and win a Championship Series after falling down 3-0 was the 2004 Boston Red Sox game against the New York Yankees. During that series, Roberts, then a player for the Red Sox, scored after stealing a base in the bottom of the ninth of Game 4, kickstarting a comeback that would later end the team’s 86-year World Series drought.
Right-handed pitcher Tyler Glasnow, an L.A. native, is set to take the mound Thursday with a 1.93 ERA across the regular season and postseason. Glasnow has been a good arm for the team and has playoff experience, pitching in Game 6 of the World Series last season. However, he will face a high-pressure situation in tonight’s elimination game.
“There’s definitely trust, and [Glasnow] knows how to pitch in those kinds of games,” Zamperin said. “I’m not concerned about him. I know that he can compete and perform to the highest level. Again, it’s just down to the offense.”
If the team secures a victory in Thursday’s Game 4, they have their two top starters in two-time reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal in Game 5 and former postseason hero Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 6. And “anything can happen in Game 7,” as 2004 Red Sox slugger Kevin Millar famously said before his team’s run.
“I’m just thinking, take it one game at a time,” Woods said. “It’s possible, but it’s highly improbable, and I’m not going to be too heartbroken if it doesn’t happen.”
Thursday’s game is set to start at 5 p.m. at the historic Dodger Stadium.
Edited by Sean Campbell and Caitlin Roehmholdt.