Choose your perspective. Choose your viewpoint. Choose your narrative. Spin it any way. Multiple interpretations. There are multiple sides of the story. The second place Los Angeles Dodgers went 48-21 (.696) after the 2021 all-star break. The first place San Francisco Giants went 49-22 (.690) after the 2021 all-star break. The Dodgers gained zero games against the Giants. Or the first place San Francisco Giants went 49-22 (.690) after the 2021 all-star break. The second place Los Angeles Dodgers went 48-21 (.696) after the 2021 all-star break. The Giants prevented the Dodgers from being tied or becoming second place winning one more game than the Dodgers. Fair or unfair. It's life.
The Giants won 107 regular season games which is a franchise record. The Dodgers won 106 regular season games which tied the franchise record. The 2021 National League West division was an outlier. The Dodgers won their wild card game against the St. Louis Cardinals to face the Giants in the National League Division Series (NLDS). The Dodgers and Giants each won two games out of a best of five games. The teams entered Game 5 with 109 total wins. The Dodgers won Game 5 with a score of 2-1 advancing to the National League Championship Series (NLCS) against the Atlanta Braves.
Game 5 ended on a controversial check swing called strike three. The umpire made an incorrect call. Bad calls happen all the time in competitive sports. Umpires are human beings like you and me. Humans make mistakes. Bad luck and bad timing the bad calls went against the Giants. Giants lost. Move on. It's life.
History was made in Major League Baseball. The Giants and the Dodgers played in the postseason against each other for the first time. The ending narrative was ugly. The series ended on a controversy.
The umpire bad calls didn't cause the Giants to lose the NLDS. The Giants batted .182 overall. The Giants batted .125 with runners in scoring position. The low batting averages were not going to get it done. Were the Giants fatigued? I didn't see fatigue. The Dodgers earned the series win. The Dodgers were the deeper team. Their were more playmakers in the Dodgers team compared to the Giants team. Mookie Betts manufactured a run in Game 5. Max Scherzer saved Game 5 which was Manager Dave Roberts correct decision instead of Kenley Jansen. Jansen had blown saves in past postseason games.
Moreover, the Giants failed to adjust to the home plate umpire's wide strike zone. Adjustments are part of daily life. Some adjustments we like. Some adjustments we don't like.
Finally, the Dodgers changed their Game 5 starting pitcher from Julio Urias to Corey Knebel. Roberts choose a bullpen pitcher using the opener pitching strategy. Why did Roberts changed the starting pitcher? All sports analysts and sports journalists I read didn't know why. My intuition was counterintuitive. If the Dodgers wanted to give up runs to the Giants, then give up runs early. Urias pitches in the middle to late innings to lower the chances of the Giants scoring runs. If the Dodgers trailed early, then the Dodgers had more innings to score runs. My question is why give up runs early in the game. No team wants to give up runs. On the other hand, don't waste time figuring out something which doesn't make sense. Regardless, the opener pitching strategy didn't affect the outcome of the game. Roberts texted Giants Manager Gabe Kapler the night before Game 5 he changed the starting pitcher. The text was an example of a John Wick profession courtesy.
Update On A Past Blog
The Washington Nationals lost 97 games. The Pittsburgh Pirates lost 101 games. The Texas Rangers lost 102 games. The Arizona Diamondbacks and Baltimore Orioles each lost 110 games. The teams were tanking. I wrote Is Tanking The New Way To Succeed? on Oct 16, 2020. These teams believed a mediocre record is not worth the effort. Tank the season. Take advantage of the upcoming offseason high draft picks for the worse standings.
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