The Los Angeles Dodgers were hoping to earn a top playoff seed and a first-round bye this year, but they might be happy that didn’t work out.
The Dodgers have won seven straight playoff games going back to last year, including a wild card round sweep of the Cincinnati Reds and two wins against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Now the Dodgers will welcome the Phillies to Los Angeles with plenty of momentum and hopes of winning that series on Wednesday and moving on to the National League Championship Series.
Though the Phillies were favored before the series began, the Dodgers have been able to take advantage of a persistent slump for their opponents’ most talented hitters. Franchise superstar Bryce Harper, who is typically a clutch playoff performer, is batting just .143 in the series.
Speaking out about that slump for the Phillies’ biggest star, Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts offered a succinct response.
“It’s tough,” Betts said of the struggles his opponent is going through, per Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register. “When you get in that rut and it seems like it’s quicksand. No matter what you do you just can’t get out of it. It’s tough.”
Betts knows something about that kind of rut from personal experience. Two years ago, in the National League Division Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, he and teammate Freddie Freeman went a combined 2-for-21 as the Dodgers were swept. And for much of this past regular season, Betts was struggling at the plate.
As the Phillies face a final chance to keep the series alive, they have to be hoping Harper can unlock something that breaks the slump in short order. It might be tough, but the superstar slugger will have to do whatever he can to work through a poorly timed setback.
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