But as Los Angeles knows, because of its wealth of playoff experience, postseason success can largely depend on relief pitching. And this year, the club will likely need to get big outs from closer Craig Kimbrel in October.
It’s been an inconsistent season for the 34-year-old Kimbrel in his first year with the Dodgers. But of late, he looked to be in a groove -- until Wednesday night, when he gave up a walk-off three-run homer to Sergio Alcántara with two outs in the 10th inning, which sent Los Angeles to a 5-3 loss to Arizona at Chase Field.
It was only the third home run given up by Kimbrel this year, but it ended his 9 1/3-inning scoreless streak, a run that spanned his previous nine outings. Over that time, he had allowed only one hit and lowered his ERA from 4.57 to 3.73.
Kimbrel felt he made a good pitch to Alcántara -- a 2-1 96 mph fastball high and inside that was placed exactly where it was intended -- yet Alcántara turned on the pitch and deposited it over the right-field wall. Because it was well located from Kimbrel’s view, he’s optimistic this can be an anomaly amid his hot stretch, rather than a downturn.
“Just keep getting my foot down, keep making my pitches,” Kimbrel said. “Sometimes, they swing and miss at pitches right down the middle, and sometimes, they hit them out.”
Manager Dave Roberts continued to express confidence in Kimbrel earlier in the year, even when the closer was going through tough times -- such as a five-appearance stretch from Aug. 4-16, when he allowed five runs (four earned) over 4 1/3 innings. Kimbrel is an eight-time All-Star (including in 2021), so his track record speaks for itself.
Roberts believes that when the stakes are raised and the postseason pressure is on, Kimbrel has the ability to get the job done for the Dodgers.
“If Craig continues to throw the baseball like he has, I have all the confidence that he’ll finish games for us,” Roberts said. “But again, that’s contingent on what he’s been doing. He’s been striking the breaking ball and commanding the fastball, and tonight, it just wasn’t there for various reasons.”
Among those reasons, Roberts believes, could be that the D-backs started the 10th with an automatic runner on second. If that wasn’t the case, the inning may have unfolded differently, and Alcántara might have never made it up to the plate.
That’s only a regular-season rule, though, so it isn’t something Kimbrel will encounter in the postseason.
“I’m not saying he’s never going to have to deal with a guy on second base,” Roberts said. “But to inherit that changes the whole mindset and the landscape of that inning off the get-go.”
Kimbrel also may have never been in that position had the Dodgers not rested four of their top offensive players, which likely contributed to them plating only three runs. A day after clinching their ninth NL West title in 10 seasons, Roberts opted to sit Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Justin Turner, giving the quartet two days off their feet thanks to Thursday’s scheduled off-day.
Although Los Angeles is already division champion -- and decided not to operate at full strength in the finale in Arizona -- there’s still plenty of reasons to chase wins, given it wants to secure the NL’s No. 1 seed. That’s why there won’t be any lack of motivation over the final 20 regular-season games, a notion that’s been quickly dismissed by Freeman.
“Our job is to play baseball,” said Freeman, who was out of the lineup for the first time in 142 games. “You come to the yard and you expect to win every single day. If you don’t have that expectation, I don’t know what you’re doing as a professional athlete. … I don’t care how many games up we are.”
Just as Roberts expects Kimbrel to perform well, he expects the same from the rest of the team over the next three weeks.
“There’s a certain standard that we expect to play by,” Roberts said.
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