Dodgers roundtable Second place for now but on top at the end

The Dodgers begin the final series of the regular season in an unfamiliar spot: second place in the National League West. After eight straight division titles and even after reaching the 100-win mark for the third time in the last four full seasons, they have been upstaged by the San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers’ biggest rival has followed up four consecutive losing seasons with the most successful regular season in San Francisco history (105 wins through Thursday). If the Dodgers can’t overcome the Giants, they will open the postseason in the wild-card game Wednesday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Dodgers beat writer Jorge Castillo, Angels beat writer Jack Harris and baseball writers Mike DiGiovanna and Bill Shaikin discussed the Dodgers’ season in a roundtable moderated by baseball editor Hans Tesselaar. How should the 2021 Dodgers be viewed: As a team that won 100-plus games or a team that probably won’t win its division? Castillo: Neither? If the Dodgers don’t end up winning the division, I think they’ll go down as possibly the best team ever to not win a division. But what really matters is what happens in the playoffs. They’ll be remembered for whatever they do in the postseason. They might be the first wild-card team to enter the playoffs as World Series favorites. But anything can happen in October — as we all know — especially in a one-game playoff. DiGiovanna: It’s hard to consider a 103-win season a disappointment. The Dodgers weathered an assortment of injuries, navigated much of July and August with a four-man rotation, and didn’t allow the Trevor Bauer situation to become a distraction. If the Giants hold on to win the division it will be because they earned it; not because the Dodgers blew it. Shaikin: October is the answer to this question. In 2014, the Giants finished six games behind the Dodgers and won the wild card. They also won the World Series and had a parade. What fans remember is the parade, not the standings. Harris: So much will depend on where the Dodgers go in the playoffs. Get knocked out in the wild-card game, and the story of the season will be that the team failed to catch the Giants in the division. Make another World Series run, and the fact they had to go the long way — through the wild card, and as the lower seed in subsequent rounds — only adds to the accomplishment. If the Dodgers can survive the wild-card game, how confident should they be moving forward with a pitching staff that is one of the best, if not the best, in baseball? Castillo: Confident enough. We dissect the team’s pitching staff every day, sometimes forgetting the context. For all the perceived flaws, the team’s staff ERA is the best in the majors by a good margin (2. 99; the Giants are second at 3. 27). If traditional numbers don’t do it for you, they are also tops in FIP and xFIP. Now, there are questions, starting with Kenley Jansen in the ninth inning and Clayton Kershaw’s health less than a month after coming off the injured list.


All data is taken from the source: http://latimes.com
Article Link: https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2021-10-01/dodgers-roundtable-chasing-the-giants-postseason-chances


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