Yasiel Puig singled home Manny Machado in the fourth inning of Game 2 on Wednesday night, giving the Dodgers their first lead of the 2018 World Series. No other Dodger reached base after that Puig single, sending the Fall Classic back to Los Angeles with the Red Sox owning a commanding 2-0 series lead.
The Dodgers need to hit, or this World Series is over
LA is hitting just .212/.311/.345 in the postseason, and now trails 2-0 in the Fall Classic
If the Dodgers don’t start hitting, this World Series is over. And it might be anyway.
The Dodgers led the National League in runs scored during the season, averaging 4.93 per game. In the playoffs they are averaging just 3.77 runs, while hitting .212/.311/.345.
In the World Series the Dodgers are hitting .175/.239/.222, and have six total runs in two games. They are 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position in the series, and just .191/.325/.319 with RISP for the entire playoffs. It was a problem all season for the Dodgers, but they quite literally powered through it, setting a franchise record with 234 of them in 2018, second only to the Yankees.
Despite those struggles with runners in scoring position the Dodgers were able to win their division and won two rounds of the playoffs. Their opponent in the World Series just happens to be coming through in the clutch.
The Red Sox are hitting .363/.492/.626 with runners in scoring position in the postseason, which goes a long way in explaining how they are 9-2 against teams with three of the top four run differentials in baseball. The Red Sox were second, during the regular season, and won 108 games. They are a very good team, it turns out.
“The difference is they got the big hit when they needed and we didn’t,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Game 2.
Nine of the 12 Boston runs in the World Series have scored with two outs, and during the postseason the Red Sox are hitting an astonishing .415/.564/.756 with RISP and two outs. To put that in perspective the major league mark in that situation was just .232/.337/.385 during the regular season.
The Dodgers found a way around those RISP problems on Wednesday by not even placing anyone on base for the final five innings. The Red Sox retired the final 16 batters to close out Game 2.
Platooning
The Red Sox started left-handers Chris Sale and David Price in the first two games, and the Dodgers stacked their lineup with right-handers, giving us this quirky stat.
On the surface, this seems bad. The instinct is to bash Roberts for not using his presumed best hitters. But on further inspection it’s not hard to see the reasoning.
The players in question — Max Muncy, Joc Pederson, Cody Bellinger, Yasmani Grandal — combined for 109 home runs, but three of them struggled against southpaws.
Dodgers vs. left-handed pitchers
Player | BA/OBP/SLG | OPS | Playoffs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Muncy | .255/.361/.529 | .891 | 3 for 11, HR, 2 BB |
| Cody Bellinger | .226/.305/.376 | .681 | 1 for 13, BB |
| Yasmani Grandal | .206/.344/.383 | .727 | 1 for 9, BB |
| Joc Pederson | .170/.211/.302 | .512 | 1 for 5 |
Muncy has the best case for starting against lefties but he faded down the stretch, just .172/.226/.448 against them in the final two months, as the Dodgers were amassing more options against lefties, trading for Manny Machado, Brian Dozier and David Freese, all of whom started the first two games of the World Series.
Through July 31 the Dodgers hit just .224/.309/.382 against left-handers as a team, a 90 wRC+ that ranked 20th in the majors. After Aug. 1 they hit .267/.349/.457 versus southpaws, ranking second with a 121 wRC+. If anything, platooning helped the Dodgers.
Muncy is just 7-for-36 this offseason, hitting .194/.370/.361. Among Dodgers this October, that actually rates well.
Grandal is 3-for-25 and coupled with his nightmare defensive struggles lost his starting job behind the plate. His replacement at catcher, Austin Barnes, is 2-for-22 this October.
Bellinger, whose last national impression was a 4-for-28 performance in the 2017 World Series with a record 17 strikeouts, is just 5-for-39 this postseason, an invisible .128/.227/.231.
Kiké Hernandez is just 3-for-32 this postseason. The list goes on and on.
“Kiké is a guy that has come through in a lot of big moments for us. ... There’s just certain players that I just believe in. And I think that he’s on that list,” Roberts told reporters Wednesday. “He doesn’t scare away from big moments, a I just feel that he’s going to get some big hits for us.”
Somebody needs to get big hits for the Dodgers, starting with Friday night at Dodger Stadium. Otherwise the World Series might not make it back to Boston.
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