The MLB playoffs don’t always reward the team that had the best regular season. The result of a single game can be somewhat random, and even a best-of-five or best-of-seven series can produce some unexpected results. However, despite some protestations, even the best teams still have to run the October gauntlet, and sometimes come up short.
Padres take out 111-win Dodgers in NLDS upset
LA is headed home early despite a dominant regular season.
Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
You can now add the 2022 Dodgers to the list of dominant regular season teams that fell victim of the playoffs.
In the regular season, the Dodgers were dominant, winning 111 games, which is the most of any team since the MLB record-tying 116 by the 2001 Mariners, who incidentally also didn’t win the World Series. Their offense led all of baseball in runs scored, and their pitching allowed the fewest of any team in MLB. Yet, none of that mattered in the four games they played against the Padres in the National League Division Series.
Coming into Saturday’s game trailing their series 2-1, the Dodgers got off to a pretty decent start, scoring two runs in the third and adding an insurance run in the seventh. They got a solid effort from starting pitcher Tyler Anderson and seemed on the verge of sending the series back to LA for a decisive game 5. Then the bottom of the seventh happened.
The Padres struck with five runs to storm in front for the first time in the game. Before the Dodgers even got an out in the inning, San Diego had recorded four hits and a walk, tying the game. Reliever Yency Almonte then got two outs to get the Dodgers on the verge of at least escaping with the game even. However, Jake Cronenworth, down to his final strike in the count, delivered a hit to put the Padres on the verge of a trip to the NLCS.
His two-run single ended up being the final difference in the game as the Padres advanced to the NLCS for the first time since 1998.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers, who finished a ridiculous 22 games ahead of San Diego in the NL West standings, now have an early exit to show for all their good work in the regular season. The MLB Playoffs can be cruel.
See More:
