The Dodgers are losing. If not from an editorial here in Say Hey, Baseball, then maybe you deduced that from your LA-based friend who won’t even look at the TV when ESPN is on. Or maybe you can just feel the disturbance in the baseball force. I don’t know. It isn’t the “Oh that was a close one, Jimmy. Get ‘em next time” kind of losing, either. But the kind of losing that not even bad teams do. They dropped their ninth in a row Saturday night and they’re not mad, they’re actually laughing. I don’t say this to be cruel, Dodgers fans. I say this so that others with favorite teams who aren’t trying to kill them right now will maybe sympathize. Because the Dodgers were so good, like, 50-games-above-.500 good until about the last week of August. So good that their current skid almost doesn’t make a difference. Almost.
The Dodgers’ losing streak could start to matter
Sunday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at how (and more).
The Dodgers still have a sizeable 10-game lead over the NL West despite dropping 14 out of their last 15 games. The Diamondbacks lost Saturday, so L.A.’s magic number is even decreasing. Arizona will likely be held off by the Dodgers. The Nationals, on the other hand, should secure the NL East title in the coming days with a magic number of three and a 19-game lead over the Marlins. The title that Dusty Baker called “inevitable” in Saturday night’s press conference is the clear first title that’ll be claimed in the 2017 season. In the last day, the six games between the Dodgers and the Nationals for the best record in the NL has slipped to five.
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The Nationals catching the Dodgers would make only a marginal difference. But when a team is playing like the Dodgers are, marginal matters. So, the implications of the Dodgers’ series in Washington at the end of the week increase, if for no other reason than there probably wouldn’t have been any implications before the Dodgers started to lose their wheels.
The three-game series means there are six games in the standings a risk. It could be the difference between playing the winner of the NL Central and the winner of the Wild Card game. The Dodgers are 1-2 this season against the Nats, but as of now, they catch a break by being likely to miss a Max Scherzer start and land on an Edwin Jackson start. The Nationals miss Clayton Kershaw but hit Alex Wood and Rich Hill. More good news for the Dodgers is that the longer they spiral into death, the more likely they are to come out of it. They can’t keep losing forever, right? Probably?
After the series, the Nationals will finish the season playing four sub-.500 teams and the Dodgers will finish the season playing three sub-.500 teams of its remaining four. Before the Dodgers trek to D.C., they’ll make a pit stop in San Francisco and maybe remember how fun it is for them to bully the Giants a little bit. Remember how fun that used to be, guys? Remember? Do you? Bueller?
- Yes, that Matt Kemp. And because it’s that Matt Kemp, the above screenshot feels even more like the perfect opportunity for a *record scratch, freeze frame* caption. Meme or no meme, it’s a great grab. You can even see his shadow under him, meaning there’s probably a Peter Pan reference I’m missing here.
- The Giants… well, they’re still not doing great. Dome might even say they’re not good. They lost to the White Sox 13-1.
- If the Cubs were a beach-goer and the Cardinals were Jaws, Chicago would probably be hearing some bass-heavy theme music right now. Cards are gaining ground.
- However, if the Cubs were a beach-goer and the Brewers were Jaws, Bill Murray would already be giving the team’s eulogy. Chicago lost to the Brewers by, like, a lot.
- Matt Chapman has a long list of elite third basemen beat to be the best one in the American League, but Athletics Nation says he’s done it. Let’s watch some highlights.
- The Dodgers’ losing streak is making everyone hold their families a little bit closer. Hope or no hope, cruel baseball or no cruel baseball, the Mariners had fun beating the Angels 8-1.
- It was Chris Sale day and the Red Sox celebrated with run support.
- The Braves had some shrimp in Atlanta. Ender Inciarte’s bases-loaded walk walked-off the Marlins.
