Dodgers flip their light switch
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers’ 1-16 skid from late August into September seemed strange while it was happening. After spending all summer as the most resilient, resourceful team in baseball, Los Angeles suddenly stopped scoring the extra runs and earning the late-game breaks that had made it so dominant.
When the 104-win Dodgers swept past Arizona and into the National League Championship Series on Monday night, that late-season slump looked even more inexplicable.
But it’s clear the Dodgers have flipped their switch back on again, and that should worry every prospective opponent of this high-priced, high-powered dynamo.
After four days off, the Dodgers will get back to work this weekend when they host either the Chicago Cubs or Washington on Saturday night to begin Los Angeles’ fifth NLCS in 10 years.
The Dodgers earned an extended break with their one-sided division series victory over the Diamondbacks, one of the few teams to give consistent trouble to Los Angeles in the regular season. The Dodgers capped the sweep with a 3-1 win in the clincher, getting timely offense from rookie Cody Bellinger and a strong start from late-season pickup Yu Darvish before the formidable bullpen and closer Kenley Jansen slammed another door.
“You look at the three games in the series, and they’re all team wins,” said manager Dave Roberts, whose club outscored Arizona 20-11. “From the first pitch, there was a plan in place, and we executed. We were relentless every single pitch.”
The last four times the Dodgers played for the NL pennant in the past decade, they came up short of their first World Series since 1988. The Cubs and the Nationals both pose enormous challenges, but the Dodgers earned their fifth straight NL