Back in Spring Training, with the scar of the previous October only beginning to heal, I asked A.J. Ellis to join Vin Scully, Rick Honeycutt and Orel Hershiser in a package of bylined stories about Clayton Kershaw for the April edition of Dodger Insider magazine. With a new October upon us, I thought this would be a good time to revisit Ellis’ remarkable insights about Kershaw and his relationship with the Dodger ace. Click the image above to enlarge.
— Jon Weisman
By Jon Weisman
You’re probably expecting rush-hour traffic to be challenging for Friday’s 6:45 p.m. National League Division Series opener. But don’t get lulled into thinking you can waltz to Dodger Stadium at the last minute for Saturday’s 6:07 p.m. game, either.
Because the CONCACAF Cup at the Rose Bowl between Mexico and the U.S. has the same starting time as NLDS Game 2, Los Angeles freeways figure to be jammed. That’s why the Dodgers once again urge fans to arrive as early as possible for both games — and also embrace carpooling and alternate transportation.
To that end, the Dodger Stadium Express, free for everyone with a game ticket, will begin service from Union Station at 4:15 p.m. Friday and 3:37 p.m. Saturday, two hours and 30 minutes before first pitch for each game.
South Bay Dodger Stadium Express service will also begin earlier, two hours before each game.
Remember, the Dodger Stadium Express takes a dedicated lane along Sunset Boulevard up Elysian Park Avenue to the ballpark, with stops behind the outfield pavilions and at the top of the park.
If you are driving, be sure to purchase your parking in advance to save time and money. Auto gates open three hours before first pitch: 3:45 p.m. Friday and 3:07 p.m. Saturday.
For more information, check out our earlier blog post this week or visit dodgers.com/transportation.
Clayton Kershaw will start Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Mets on Friday, the Dodgers have announced, followed by Zack Greinke in Game 2 on Saturday and Brett Anderson in Game 3 at New York on Monday.
Kershaw is scheduled to face Jacob deGrom, with Greinke going against Noah Syndergaard and Anderson against Matt Harvey.
Much is known about Kershaw and Greinke, but Anderson is not a newcomer to the playoffs either. He will be making his third postseason appearance and second postseason start. In Game 3 of the 2012 NLDS, Anderson pitched six shutout innings for Oakland against Detroit. In 2015, Anderson had a 3.07 ERA and 1.30 WHIP in 15 road starts.
— Jon Weisman
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By Jon Weisman
With Clayton Kershaw (above) starting things out with his morning windsprints, the Dodgers held their first postseason workout today.
The deadline to finalize the 25-man roster for the National League Division Series doesn’t come until 10 a.m. Friday, so the Dodgers haven’t made any announcements regarding who will be on it, nor the starting rotation.
General manager Farhan Zaidi said that while discussions about the final roster spots are continuing, including whether the last spot will go to a pitcher or a position player, the team hopes to let players know their status sooner than later so they they aren’t in the dark.
Scott Van Slyke, battling wrist problems, didn’t bat today, so his chances for playing in the NLDS are dimming. Yasiel Puig is considered healthy and, if the organization is satisfied that he had enough prep time at Camelback Ranch and this weekend against the Padres, he remains a candidate to play in the NLDS.
Ugh. (Rich Pilling/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
By Jon Weisman
OK, brace yourselves, because this post is going to mention that time in the playoffs when J.D. Drew and Jeff Kent … I can barely even say it.
The last year the Dodgers faced the Mets in the playoffs is also the last year the Mets were in the playoffs at all: 2006. Los Angeles was swept in three National League Division Series games by New York, which went on to lose a seven-game series to the Cardinals in the National League Championship Series.
Nine years have passed, and of those who played in that NLDS, eight remain in the Major Leagues: Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton, Andre Ethier, James Loney and Russell Martin. Ethier and Wright are the only players who are still with the Dodgers and Mets, respectively.
Here’s how it went down …
More than 100,000 fans have taken the Dodger Stadium Express to games this year. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)
By Jon Weisman
Game times for the first two games of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium have been set.
Game 1 will begin at 6:45 p.m. Friday, and Game 2 will begin at 6:07 p.m. Saturday. TBS is televising the games.
Auto gates are scheduled to open three hours before the first pitch, with stadium entry gates to open 2 1/2 hours before first pitch.
What follows is more information about parking and alternative transportation for the NLDS …
By Jon Weisman
The last time the Dodgers played in a winner-take-all playoff game, the winning pitcher was Orel Hershiser.
That was October 12, 1988, when Hershiser pitched the Dodgers to a 6-0 victory in Game 7 of the 1988 National League Championship Series (a series that receives some fine oral history treatment from Lyle Spencer of MLB.com).
For all the talk of home-field advantage in the postseason, the Dodgers have been in 12 playoff series since the last time one of them went down to the final game. Will this year be different? We’re certainly due.
The last time the Dodgers played the final game of a playoff series on the road was October 19, 1981, when Rick Monday homered in the ninth and Bob Welch got the final out for Fernando Valenzuela to win Game 5 of the 1981 NLCS.
In fact, the Dodgers haven’t lost a winner-take-all playoff game since Game 7 of the 1956 World Series, and haven’t lost one on the road since Game 7 of the 1952 World Series. The Dodgers are 5-3 overall in winner-take-all playoff games, triumphing in their past four, and have pitched shutouts in half of them.
Juan Uribe drove in the winning run July 26 against the Dodgers. (Jon SooHoo)
By Jon Weisman
When the Dodgers last landed in New York City, the Mets were a contender, but also a bit of a laughing stock.
For more images from Tuesday’s clinch and celebration, visit LA Photog Blog.
By Jon Weisman
Now that the Dodgers have won the National League West earned their spot in the National League Division Series, naturally we wonder who those 25 Dodgers in the next round will be. Here’s my look, and I’m speaking for myself here, not the organization.
By Jon Weisman
In what has perhaps seemed like an up-and-down season, Los Angeles truly ruled the National League West, leading nearly every day from April to tonight’s title-clinching, 8-0 victory.
Get your hands on Dodger postseason gear at the Top of the Park store from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, and from 9 a.m. until postgame during the Dodgers’ final homestand Friday through Sunday.
Tickets for the Dodgers’ first two potential National League Division Series home games are sold out, but for more information on other potential playoff games, visit dodgers.com/postseason.
— Jon Weisman
By Jon Weisman
The Titanic skipped the iceberg. The boys beat the breaks.
All the numbers are magic tonight. For the first time in their history, the Dodgers are going to the postseason for the third consecutive year.
Soaring on home runs by Kiké Hernandez, Justin Ruggiano and A.J. Ellis off 2014 World Series hero Madison Bumgarner, sailing on the Unsinkable Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers stood up and shook up San Francisco, 8-0, to win the 2015 National League West title.
For Kershaw, it was his first career one-hitter (Kevin Frandsen’s clean single in the second inning preventing next-level history) and the second consecutive year he pitched the Dodgers to the NL West title — an eight-run victory both times. For Ellis, it was the second time in three years he homered in a division-clinching game.
Next challenge: To end the 26-year drought without a World Series title, the Dodgers’ longest since they won their first World Series in 1955. They will face the New York Mets in the National League Division Series, beginning October 9.
With the Dodgers having lost eight times in their last 10 games, stuck for 100 hours in a row on a magic number of two to clinch the division, Kershaw rose to the occasion for, as if it were even possible, one of the most brilliant games of his brilliant career. He retired the final 19 batters, struck out 13 in all (two shy of his career high), while needing only 104 pitches for the 12th shutout of his career.
Kershaw has 294 strikeouts in 2015, putting him within striking distance of 300 for the year, though he will probably have an abbreviated start in the Dodgers’ regular-season finale Sunday. Either way, Kershaw has the most whiffs for an MLB pitcher since Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson topped the 300 mark in 2002.
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In his first start since returning from the disabled list, Hernandez provided the initial spark — or sparks. He led off the game with a single off Bumgarner, went to third on an omenic Kelby Tomlinson error, then scored on Justin Turner’s sacrifice fly — all before hitting the first Dodger homer to begin the third.
Though Kershaw was dealing, allowing his only single and walk in the third inning, it was a plenty tight game into the fifth, when whatever leverage Bumgarner was hanging onto seemed to give way when it took him 13 pitches to retire Kershaw — the longest at-bat by a big-league pitcher this year. The Dodgers didn’t score, but Bumgarner finished the fifth inning already at 100 pitches.
With two out in the sixth, Bumgarner hung a curveball that Ruggiano blasted for a 3-0 Dodger lead. Ellis went back-to-back to make it 4-0. In the eighth, the Dodgers broke it open with four runs, the big blow a team-leading sixth triple of the year by Andre Ethier.
Starting with the last out of the third inning, Kershaw retired 16 batters in a row, striking out 10 of them, to reach the ninth on 96 pitches.
Trevor Brown whiffed on three pitches. Angel Pagan flied to left on two pitches. Kelby Tomlinson took tow balls, then hit a slow chopper to shortstop, where Corey Seager flung to Adrian Gonzalez to ignite the celebration.
Next stop, playoffs.
Here’s a sneak peak at one of our stories from the October issue of Dodger Insider magazine. Our friend Mike Petriello gives us a myth-and-reality analysis of what’s worth worrying about with regards to a team trying to get to the World Series, and what’s not worth worrying about. Click the image above to enlarge.
Bottom line — there’s always something to worry about, but you don’t need to worry about everything.
Here are more links specifically addressing the notion of late-season momentum, from Dave Cameron at Fox Sports’ Just a Bit Outside, Dave Studeman at the Hardball Times and Jay Jaffe at SI.com.
— Jon Weisman
Matthew Mesa/Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jon Weisman
So, I realize there are many Dodger fans who aren’t freaking out, who understand the 99.9 percent inevitability of the Dodgers’ winning the National League West and their fair shot at the World Series. This piece is for the other group.
Dodgers at Rockies, 5:10 p.m.
Carl Crawford, LF
Corey Seager, SS
Chase Utley, 2B
Justin Turner, 3B
Andre Ethier, RF
Yasmani Grandal, 1B
A.J. Ellis, C
Joc Pederson, CF
Brett Anderson, P
By Jon Weisman
We’re truly on the watch now. With the magic number to clinch the National League West down to two, the Dodgers could be division champions once they throw their final pitch tonight.
The Dodgers should have an idea of how imminent a clinch is before they take the field in Colorado tonight. San Francisco is playing Oakland in a 1:05 p.m. game, with none other than Barry Zito making the start for the A’s against old teammate Tim Hudson. An Oakland victory ensures no worse than a tie for the NL West title for Los Angeles, but Zito gave up four runs in his first two innings to put the A’s in a 4-0 hole.
In any case, the Dodgers need two of four outcomes involving themselves and the Giants to go their way this weekend, in order to have things wrapped up before their plane touches down in San Francisco for next week’s four-game series. The four teams play simultaneously Sunday.
What we know for sure already is that the NL West champion will play the NL East champion in one National League Division Series beginning October 9, while the NL Central champion plays the NL Wild Card in the other NLDS. That’s because neither the Dodgers nor the Mets, nor any other team outside the Central, can finish with the best record in the NL.
What remains to be seen is which coast will host the opening two games of the East-West NLDS. It will begin in New York unless the Dodgers can finish ahead of the Mets, who won the season series between the two teams, four games to three, the day that Zack Greinke’s 45 2/3-inning scoreless streak ended.
But just to avoid counting any chickens or other fowl, there’s this: NLDS Game 1 will take place in San Francisco if the Giants finish 9-0 or 9-1, and the Dodgers finish 0-9 or 1-9, and the Mets finish 0-9, and the Nationals finish 10-0.
What happens when three old friends in crisis fall into an unexpected love triangle? In The Catch, Maya, Henry and Daniel embark upon an emotional journey that forces them to confront unresolved pain, present-day traumas and powerful desires, leading them to question the very meaning of love and fulfillment. The Catch tells a tale of ordinary people seeking the extraordinary – or, if that’s asking too much, some damn peace of mind.
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