The Los Angeles Dodgers are officially headed to the NLCS.
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The Boys in Blue bested a tough Philadelphia Phillies squad on Thursday evening by a score of 2-1 in a thrilling extra-innings classic. Now, the team can rest for a few days before resuming their postseason run Monday evening versus either the Chicago Cubs or the Milwaukee Brewers.
While the team is surely over-the-moon at besting an opponent many felt would be the toughest en route to another World Series title, the ballclub is far from satisfied.
A number of the players spoke to the media in the wake of beating the Phillies. Max Muncy in particular thinks the Dodgers are just scratching the surface as to how good things can get moving forward.
“I still think there’s another gear in there. I don’t think we fully reached where we can be at,” Muncy said. “And that’s not saying we are, and that’s not saying we aren’t. But I still think there’s a whole other level in there we haven’t reached yet.”
All-Star catcher Will Smith specifically spoke on Shohei Ohtani’s struggles in the NLDS and firmly believes the all-everything talent can turn things around quickly.
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“I think there’s another gear. Look at Shohei,” Smith said. “He didn’t do much this series. I expect next series for him to come out and hit like five homers. That’s just who he is.”
Kiké Hernández echoed these sentiments — focusing on how the Dodgers will lean on their championship pedigree moving forward.
“I think that we can be better. We didn’t necessarily defend the way we can defend. We didn’t hit the way we can hit. Even though we beat a really, really good team, we can be even better,” Hernandez said.
“That just speaks volumes about this group. We have gone through so much together. We’re battle-tested, and we’re going to find a way to win a ballgame even when things are not going our way.”
Ohtani’s struggles were well chronicled in this series. He went 1-for-18 with nine strikeouts and two walks. Some of that has to do with the elite left-handed pitching Philadelphia utilized. However, Ohtani’s at-bat quality was far below where it should be.
He’s seemingly guessing on pitches — wildly swinging at the first pitch regardless as to where it’s located just hoping to make contact. From there, an indecisive nature has taken over.
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It probably will be good for Ohtani (and Andy Pages) to hit the reset button with a few days off and face a new pitching staff whether it be the Cubs or the Brewers.
If those two get going coupled with the expected improvement from Smith and Muncy coming back from their respective injuries, it’ll be tough to take out the Dodgers in a seven-game series.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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