6 Thoughts on Dodgers-Brewers NLWC, MLB New Rules
The Dodgers took Game 1 of their National League Wild Card series with the Brewers Wednesday night at Chavez Ravine, fans the world over survived a Kenley Jansen save situation and we've all had a chance to come to a few conclusions about the first round to date. Here are mine:
1. New rules: While we already knew it to be the case, can we now all agree 50 hours in that the new 16-team postseason tournament was a bad idea to begin with and needs to be one-and-done come November? Isn't the thorough predictability of high seeds losing games and series to low seeds and the undeserving, unrepentant, under-.500 and disgusting Houston Astros advancing all the evidence that should be required?
Can't we say the same thing about the three-reliever rule? Dumb in the cradle, amplified as moronic in its first term in kindergarten and in no way tolerable for the terrible twos of 2021?
2. Commish this! Let there be no debate about Rob Manfred. Impeachment is out of the question, but the 25th Amendment, (or the baseball equivalent of) is a thing to be considered. And employed. The owners can make just as much money with someone else in charge and ought to fire the man. Manfred exhibits a rare combination of disdain for the game he claims to love, his rule changes generally have the opposite effect of what’s intended and he is as charmless a man as can possibly be. Who's got next?
[Follow Sports Illustrated’s Inside the Dodgers on Twitter.]
3. Twinkees. It’s a wonder the Minnesota Twins can dress themselves.
4. You Betts your life: I don't care a whit about Mookie Betts' career postseason numbers (.239.320/.370, with a home run and five RBIs). After a likely-MVP first season in Los Angeles and four postseason at bats in 2020, I've seen enough. He's just a great, great, great player. Tell me you were in the least bit surprised when Betts doubled leading off for the Dodgers, came around to score the team's first run and then doubled in another run in the second.
Los Angeles hasn't held a parade in a generation because they haven't had the type of player they needed to get them there for a generation. This exact player. I said it before and I'll say it again, Mookie Betts is is the 2020 Dodgers' Version of Kirk Gibson. Difference. Maker.
5. Dodgers arms: Four innings from the Game 1 starter and it's absolutely fine. Better than fine. Walker Buehler made one bad pitch -- which Orlando Arcia hit halfway to Hacienda Heights -- but was otherwise solid. Julio Urias pitched around a Max Muncy drop kick for three thoroughly impressive playoff innings and Blake Treinen was steady in the eighth. Jansen was Jansen in the ninth. He got the save to no one's great relief and is on a very short leash. See video above for Dave Roberts' postgame comments on that score.
6. Game 2: Clayton Kershaw versus Brandon Woodruff at 7:08 p.m. on ESPN. You know all about Kershaw's postseason problems and may ponder this for a spell before first pitch. I don't expect a blip from L.A.'s ace tonight, however. I expect at worst a quality start of three earned runs in six innings and at most six innings of shutout ball. Probably somewhere in between.
Woodruff is fun to watch and really, really good. Getting noticeably better in each of his four years in the majors, he led baseball with 13 starts this season, recording a 3.03 ERA, a 0.991 WHIP and 91 strikeouts in 73 2/3 innings. But the Dodgers are comfortable preparing for one guy (especially if he's a right-hander) and I expect them to get Woodruff out of the game no later than the sixth with no fewer than four on the board. That's my prediction. A win tonight and a convincing series sweep of Milwaukee. And onto the NLDS.
And remember, glove conquers all.
Howard Cole has been writing about baseball on the internet since Y2K. Follow him on Twitter.
Video courtesy of Spectrum SportsNetLA/Los Angeles Dodgers.
