Although the Los Angeles Dodgers did not rack up 100 wins this year equaling a 66 percent chance to make the World Series—with 92 wins on the season, the team still has a great chance of advancing deep into the postseason.
The Dodgers needed an extra game to clinch the National League – West Division title for the sixth time in a row on Oct. 1, besting the Colorado Rockies with a 5-2 win.
The main focal point for Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts should be making the right rotations, which is one feature, fans have knocked him for, along with taking too many risks.
For the post season, Roberts should stick with the guys he trusts and the rotations that have worked well up to this point.
Starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw is still the Dodgers’ best ace of all time, but for this team to go far in the playoffs, pitcher Walker Buehler should be relied upon more heavily.
Kershaw has struggled as of late. However, he’s deserving of a significant role in the playoffs, just not over Buehler at least until he gets back to being himself, the best pitcher in MLB.
Buehler was the man in the Dodgers’ NL West clincher.
Buehler did not give up a hit to the Rockies until inning No. 5 and Buehler even got his first Runs Batted In – single of his career, leading to a score.
The Dodgers won the NL West, while being one of the last teams to secure a postseason berth. Now that the boys in blue are in the playoffs, anything can happen with the chance to make the World Series in back to back seasons.
FiveThirtyEight.com, a website that uses statistical analysis to make predictions, gave the 2018 Dodgers the highest odds to reach the World Series at 44 percent. The next highest goes to the reigning World Series champion Houston Astros at 34 percent.
It seems as if this team is built for October baseball. The regular season was filled with some ups and a lot of downs, but the team has hit its stride at the right time for baseball.
The Dodgers can definitely make it to the World Series and win it all. FiveThirtyEight also gave the Dodgers a 20 percent chance to win the World Series, good for second best after the Astros.
