Dodgers Dugout: Recapping the Reds series, previewing Dodgers-Phillies

Hi and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell, and I do believe the Dodgers found their closer.

The Dodgers had little trouble disposing of the Reds in two games, despite the bullpen trying to make things as interesting as possible. A few things that caught my eye:

—Remember when some doofus wrote that Mookie Betts should drop down in the order and move back to right field? Well, I was wrong. Since then, he hit .317/.376/.516 in the regular season and he went six for nine with three doubles and three RBIs against the Reds. Also, his defense has continued to improve, and there’s a chance he could end up a Gold Glove finalist. He led all shortstops in defensive runs saved this season.

—I don’t know how it happens, but somehow when the postseason begins, Kiké Hernández changes into Super Kiké in the postseason (though he leaves his glasses on). He went four for eight against the Reds, after hitting just .203 in the regular season. He is hitting .286/.357/.525 in 88 career postseason games, but just .236/.305/.403 in the regular season.

“October Kiké is something pretty special,” Dave Roberts said after Game 2. “And the track record speaks for itself. He’s one of the best throughout the history of the postseason.”

Hernández: “I know they brought me here for these types of moments. The beautiful thing about the postseason is that once we get to the postseason, everything starts at zero. You can have a bad year and you flip the script and you start over in the postseason. You have a good postseason, help the team win, and nobody ever remembers what you did in the regular season.”

—ESPN continues to have terrible broadcasters for their games. TBS will carry all five NLDS games.

—How about Ben Rortvedt? A career .190 hitter who was signed by the Dodgers because of injuries, and now he seems to be in the middle of all the action. He went three for six against the Reds with two sacrifice bunts. Two sacrifice bunts. It’s unheard of. And he catches the pitching staff as if he has been with the team for years.

—What is there to say about Shohei Ohtani that hasn’t already been said? Worth every penny.

—Teoscar Hernández seems back at the plate, but his fielding is still a problem. I’m going to guess that we will discover after the season that he is dealing with some nagging injuries. He doesn’t seem to be running full speed all the time.

—Andy Pages is the only Dodger not to get a hit against the Reds, but he had several nice at-bats and the Reds were afraid to run on his arm.

—Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto were excellent. When the Reds loaded the bases with no outs against Yamamoto, you could sense a change in his demeanor. Getting out of that inning was quite a lift.

—Then there’s the bullpen. Someone needs to check the water down there. All these guys come in and seem afraid to attack the hitters. They nibble and nibble and it gets frustrating. Death by a thousand paper cuts. It even happened to Emmet Sheehan, who looked like a totally different pitcher coming out of the ‘pen. You can get away with this against the Reds, but the Phillies will take every advantage.

—Don’t want to get ahead of my punt coverage here, but Blake Treinen is looking more and more like his old self.

—And then there’s Roki Sasaki. He came in and said “Here’s a 100-mph fastball in the zone, try to hit it.” All his pitches look the same until the last moment, when they dive or slide. I thought I was watching Eric Gagné out there for a minute. Or, as Max Muncy said after Game 2, “Wow. Really, all you can say is wow.”

—Up next are the Phillies. Much like last season’s Dodgers-Padres NLDS, this feels like a World Series matchup. It’s not going to be cakewalk, and if the bullpen falters, the chances of the Dodgers winning decrease exponentially. However, the Dodgers are 17-5 in their last 22 games. The starting pitchers are going deeper into games. They will have Clayton Kershaw in the bullpen (and maybe he even starts Game 4 if necessary). Maybe he can convince these guys to calm down a little. The Dodger offense will need to remain patient, work counts and get the Phillies’ starting pitchers out as soon as they cam

Best-of-five series are tricky. There’s little room for error. But, the Dodgers are playing their best ball at the right moment so…..

Prediction: Dodgers in 5.

Let’s take a look at how the two teams compare and where they ranked among the 30 teams:

Batting

Runs per game
Dodgers, 5.09 (2nd)
Phillies, 4.80 (8th)
MLB average, 4.45

Batting average
Phillies, .258 (3rd)
Dodgers, .253 (5th)
MLB average, .245

On-base %
Phillies, .328 (4th)
Dodgers, .327 (5th)
MLB average, .315

Slugging %
Dodgers, .441 (2nd)
Phillies, .431 (4th)
MLB average, .404

Doubles
Phillies, 268 (7th)
MLB average, 258
Dodgers, 257 (13th)

Triples
Phillies, 24 (T8th)
MLB average, 21
Dodgers, 21 (T12th)

Home runs
Dodgers, 244 (2nd)
Phillies, 212 (10th)
MLB average, 188

Walks
Dodgers, 580 (2nd)
Phillies, 528 (11th)
MLB average, 513

Strikeouts
MLB average, 1,355
Dodgers, 1,353 (16th)
Phillies, 1,337 (19th)

Stolen bases
Phillies, 124 (12th)
MLB average, 115
Dodgers, 88 (T21st)

Sacrifice bunts
MLB average, 19
Phillies, 16 (T15th)
Dodgers, 13 (T20th)

Batting average with two out and runners in scoring position
Dodgers, .271 (1st)
MLB average, .233
Phillies, .228 (19th)

Pitching

ERA
Phillies, 3.79 (8th)
Dodgers, 3.95 (16th)
MLB average, 4.15

Rotation ERA
Phillies, 3.53 (2nd)
Dodgers, 3.69 (5th)
MLB average, 4.21

Bullpen ERA
MLB average, 4.08
Phillies, 4.265 (20th)
Dodgers, 4.269 (21st)

FIP (click here for explainer)
Phillies, 3.71 (1st)
Dodgers, 3.93 (7th)
MLB average, 4.16

Walks
Dodgers, 563 (5th)
MLB average, 513
Phillies, 435 (29th)

Strikeouts
Dodgers, 1,505 (1st)
Phillies, 1,472 (3rd)
MLB average, 1,355

Saves
Phillies, 47 (T2nd)
Dodgers, 46 (5th)
MLB average, 40

Blown saves
Dodgers, 27 (T7th)
Phillies, 27 (T7th)
MLB average, 24

Inherited runners who scored %
Dodgers, 26.1% (3rd)
MLB average, 31.8%
Phillies, 31.8% (15th)

Relief innings
Dodgers, 657.2 (1st)
MLB average, 595
Phillies, 510.2 (30th)

Relief wins
Dodgers, 44 (T1st)
MLB average, 33
Phillies 33 (T14th)

Relief losses
Dodgers, 33 (T7th)
MLB average, 29
Phillies, 22 (T26th)

The players

When comparing the main players on the teams, keep in mind that players can move around depending on who is starting and managerial whim. Gavin Lux, for example, has started at left field, DH and second base for the Reds. For a full look at the Reds statistically, click here.

DH
Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani. .282/.392/.622, 25 doubles, 55 homers, 102 RBIs
Phillies, Kyle Schwarber, .240/.365/.563, 23 doubles, 56 homers, 132 RBIs

The top two NL MVP candidates face off. Remember, voting takes place before the postseason begins, so this will have no impact on who wins the award.

Catcher
Dodgers, Will Smith, .296/.404/.497, 20 doubles, 17 homers, 61 RBIs
Dodgers, Ben Rortvedt, .224/.309/.327, 2 doubles, 1 homer, 4 RBIs
Phillies, J.T. Realmuto, .257/.315/.384, 26 doubles, 12 homers, 52 RBIs
Phillies, Rafael Marchán, .210/.282/.305, 4 doubles, 2 homers, 13 RBIs

First base
Dodgers, Freddie Freeman, .295/.367/.502, 39 doubles, 24 homers, 90 RBIs
Phillies, Bryce Harper, .261/.357/.487, 32 doubles, 27 homers, 75 RBIs

Second base
Dodgers, Miguel Rojas, .262/.318/.397, 18 doubles, 7 homers, 27 RBIs
Dodgers, Tommy Edman, .225/.274/.382, 13 doubles, 13 homers, 49 RBIs
Phillies, Bryson Stott, .257/.328/.391, 22 doubles, 13 homers, 66 RBIs

Third base
Dodgers, Max Muncy, .243/.376/.470, 10 doubles, 19 homers, 67 RBIs
Phillies, Alec Bohm, .287/.331/.409, 18 doubles, 11 homers, 59 RBIs

Shortstop
Dodgers, Mookie Betts, .258/.326/.406, 23 doubles, 20 homers, 82 RBIs
Phillies, Trea Turner, .304/.355/.457, 31 doubles, 15 homers, 69 RBIs

Turner won the batting title this season.

Left field
Dodgers, Kiké Hernández, .203/.255/.366, 8 doubles, 10 homers, 35 RBIs
Phillies, Brandon Marsh, .280/.342/.443, 25 doubles, 11 homers, 43 RBIs

Center field
Dodgers, Andy Pages, .272/.313/.461, 27 doubles, 27 homers, 86 RBIs
Phillies, Harrison Bader, .305/.361/.463, 11 doubles, 5 homers, 16 RBIs

Bader was acquired at the trade deadline. His numbers shown are with the Phillies only.

Right field
Dodgers, Teoscar Hernández, .247/.284/.454, 29 doubles, 25 homers, 89 RBIs
Phillies, Nick Castellano, .250/.294/.400, 27 doubles, 17 homers, 72 RBIs

Of the Phillies listed, Harper, Stott, Marsh and Schwarber bat left-handed.

Starting pitchers

Dodgers
*Blake Snell, 5-4, 2.35 ERA, 61.1 IP, 51 hits, 26 walks, 72 K’s
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 12-8, 2.49 ERA, 173.2 IP, 113 hits, 59 walks, 201 K’s
Shohei Ohtani, 1-1, 2.87 ERA, 47 IP, 40 hits, 9 walks, 62 K’s
Tyler Glasnow, 4-3, 3.19 ERA, 90.1 IP, 56 hits, 43 walks, 106 K’s
*Clayton Kershaw, 11-2, 3.36 ERA, 112.2 IP, 102 hits, 35 walks, 84 K’s

Phillies
*Cristopher Sánchez, 13-5, 2.50 ERA, 202 IP, 171 hits, 44 walks, 212 K’s
*Jesús Luzardo, 15-7, 3.92 ERA, 183.2 IP, 167 hits, 57 walks, 216 K’s
*Ranger Suárez, 12-8, 3.20 ERA, 157.1 IP, 154 hits, 38 walks, 151 K’s
Aaron Nola, 5-10, 6.01 ERA, 94.1 IP, 99 hits, 29 walks, 97 K’s

The main relievers

Dodgers
*Tanner Scott, 1-4, 4.74 ERA, 23 saves, 57 IP, 54 hits, 18 walks, 60 K’s
*Alex Vesia, 4-2, 3.02 ERA, 5 saves, 59.2 IP, 37 hits, 22 walks, 80 K’s
Emmet Sheehan, 6-3, 2.82 ERA, 73.1 IP, 49 hits, 22 walks, 89 K’s
Blake Treinen, 2-7. 5.40 ERA, 26.2 IP, 30 hits, 19 walks, 36 K’s
Roki Sasaki, 1-1, 4.46 ERA, 36.1 IP, 30 hits, 22 walks, 28 K’s

Phillies
Jhoan Duran, 1-2, 2.18 ERA, 16 saves, 20.2 IP, 18 hits, 1 walk, 27 K’s
*Tanner Banks, 6-2, 3.07 ERA, 1 save, 67.1 IP, 56 hits, 12 walks, 61 K’s
*Matt Strahm, 2-3, 2.74 ERA, 6 saves, 62.1 IP, 47 hits, 20 walks, 70 K’s
Orion Kerkering, 8-2, 3.30 ERA, 4 saves, 60 IP, 55 hits, 27 walks, 65 K’s
Walker Buehler, 3-0, 0.66 ERA, 13.2 IP, 10 hits, 6 walks, 8 K’s

Duran was acquired from Minnesota at the trade deadline. His numbers shown are with the Phillies only.

*-left-handed

The NLDS roster

The biggest surprise for the wild-card roster was no Michael Conforto. Instead, Justin Dean was added for late-inning defense. The Dodgers carried 11 pitchers and 15 position players. What will the Dodgers do for the NLDS? Ohtani gives them an extra pitcher (for example, Ohtani didn’t count as one of their 11 pitchers in the wild-card roster, even though he probably would have started Game 3.) So, if the Dodgers go with 13 pitchers and 13 position players, they are in effect carrying 14 pitchers because of Ohtani.

Who will be cut from the position player roster for the NLDS? Will they carry three catchers again? Is Will Smith ready to do something besides pinch-hit? Will Dean stick around one more round? Will Conforto return? Tune in next time on “As the World…” sorry, wrong show. We’ll find out a few hours before Game 1.

Poll time

Who do you think will win the Dodgers-Phillies series?

Click here to vote in our survey.

Up next

Saturday: Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 1-1, 2.87 ERA) at Philadelphia (*Cristopher Sánchez, 13-5, 2.50 ERA), 3:30 p.m., TBS, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

Monday: Dodgers (TBD) at Philadelphia (TBD), 3 p.m., TBS, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

Wednesday: Philadelphia (TBD) at Dodgers (TBD), TBD, TBS, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

x-Thursday: Philadelphia (TBD) at Dodgers (TBD), TBD, TBS, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

x-Saturday, Oct. 11: Dodgers (TBD) at Philadelphia (TBD), TBD, TBS, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-left-handed
x-if necessary

Dodgers Dugout: Recapping the Reds series, previewing Dodgers-Phillies

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