Game 150 Thread: Sept.15 vs. Phillies, 7p

Emmet Sheehan (6-3, 3.32) vs. Ranger Suarez (12-6, 2.77).

A four-and-a-half game lead in the playoff standings, with only 13 games to go, is just too much for the Dodgers to make up, right? If we remain in the #3 playoff spot (as the divisional winner with the worst record), it means we'll play in the Wild Card round, against the Mets (or possibly the Giants, Diamondbacks, or Reds)--none of which are really great first-round opponents, especially in a short best-of-three series.

Bill Shaikin of the LAT reminisces that having a first-round bye didn't work so well for us in 2022 and 2023, though in 2024 we had a bye and barely eked out the NLDS victory. But Andrew Friedman, in a very confusing quote, still prefers we get the first-round bye:

“There is not a question in my mind that that does not make sense,” Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, told me last week. “It is better for your World Series odds to not play those three games.”

The five days off that come with a bye can disrupt the timing of hitters. They also can allow time for injured and weary players to recover — that could be critical for Dodgers catcher Will Smith, in particular — and for the Dodgers to arrange their starting rotation just the way they might like it. And, of course, you can’t be eliminated in the first round if you don’t play in it.

Taking the long view: if the Dodgers follow-up their pre-season juggernaut coronation with entering the playoffs as the worst divisional winner, one has to register this as a disappointment.

Maybe that's a big enough chip on the shoulder to motivate the Dodgers (who won the weekend series by dominating the last two games, but still slept through Friday's disappointing walk-off loss to the Giants).

Or maybe I'm just looking too far ahead.