LOS ANGELES — After all their gaudy statistics during the regular season – 111 wins, Freddie Freeman and Trea Turner powering the offense – the Los Angeles Dodgers appeared on their way to fulfilling Manager Dave Roberts’ spring prediction of another World Series victory.
Not so fast.
The San Diego Padres squelched those plans, upsetting the Dodgers in four games to win their NL Division Series and providing a stunning end to a historic season in Los Angeles.
“This was a really good team, a really, really good team,” Freeman said. “October baseball can be brutal and it happened for us.”
Two years removed from winning their World Series championship in the pandemic bubble, the Dodgers have much to contemplate and plenty of time to do it during the long offseason.
PITCHING
Walker Buehler is expected to miss most and possibly all of the 2023 season after undergoing his second career Tommy John surgery in August.
Starters Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Anderson and Andrew Heaney will become free agents after the World Series ends.
Kershaw, the three-time Cy Young Award winner who turns 35 in March, has indicated he’d like to return to the only team he’s ever played for during his 15-year career. He was on a $17 million, one-year deal this season.
Anderson, the All-Star left-hander, had a breakout season in his first year with the Dodgers. The well-traveled veteran had a 2.57 ERA in 178 2/3 innings.
Signed for $8.5 million before the lockout began, Heaney started the season on an encouraging note but then missed two stretches because of shoulder strains.
Making his postseason debut, the left-hander gave up a home run to Trent Grisham in a 2-1 loss to the Padres in Game 3.
Dustin May and Blake Treinen returned from health issues in time to make the division series roster and should be ready for spring training.
The Dodgers figure to part ways with closer Craig Kimbrel, who was demoted from his ninth-inning role with two weeks left in the regular season and got left off the postseason roster.
TREA TURNER
Turner becomes a free agent after the World Series ends and would be a sought-after player among what appears to be a strong shortstop class.
He made his second straight All-Star appearance in his first full season with the Dodgers.
After splitting time between Washington and L.A. last year, Turner hit .298 and finished second in hits behind teammate Freeman with 194. Turner tied for second in at-bats and plate appearances, and tied for third in singles among MLB leaders. He sprained his right ring finger in the eighth inning of Game 3 against the Padres but started in Game 4.
OUT THE DOOR?
David Price has indicated he plans to retire. The 37-year-old left-hander was left off the division series roster after a wrist injury curtailed him in September.
Price, who won the World Series with Boston in 2018, opted out of the 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic and was used mostly as a reliever over the last two seasons.
OLD GUARD
The Dodgers hold a $16 million team option for 2023 on third baseman Justin Turner, who hit .278 while splitting starts as the designated hitter. He was just 2 for 13 in the NLDS. The 37-year-old is a fan favorite and a well-respected voice in the clubhouse. But the future already is here. Miguel Vargas made the NLDS roster at age 22, impressing Roberts with his ability to hit to all fields and overall cool-headedness. The Dodgers could choose to pay Turner’s $2 million buyout and move on with Vargas at third.
Cody Bellinger will enter his final year of arbitration eligibility with his future seemingly in doubt. Three years removed from being the NL MVP, the outfielder was benched for the last two games of the division series. He hit .193 with a .611 OPS over the past two seasons and the Dodgers may not want to shell out more money for a player whose excellent defense doesn’t make up for his poor hitting.
BRAVES: More than four months of dazzling baseball carried the Atlanta Braves to a fifth straight NL East title. Their hopes of repeating as World Series champion fell apart in less than a week.
The season came to an unimaginable end with two dismal performances in Philadelphia, where the Braves were outscored 17-4 and lost the Division Series 3-1 to a Phillies team they beat by 14 games during the regular season.
“Man, I’m disappointed,” Manager Brian Snitker said Sunday, less than 24 hours after the final game. “Just remembering what we went through this year, and expecting to (win the World Series) again.”
Instead, the Braves made their earliest exit from the postseason since 2019.
The wild-card Phillies are now heading to the Championship Series, their title hopes still alive while two 101-win teams that fought to the wire for the division title are all done.
The Braves climbed back from a 10 1/2-game deficit to chase down the Mets, sweeping New York on the final weekend of the season and winning the dramatic pennant race on a tiebreaker to earn the first-round bye.
The Mets were upset in the opening round by the San Diego Padres. Atlanta went down next, doomed by poor starting pitching, an offense that suddenly went cold and a bullpen that couldn’t keep it close with the season on the line.
PHILLIES: Rob Thomson raised his bottle of bubbly for a toast in the clubhouse after the Phillies became the last team in baseball to clinch a playoff spot. The Phillies’ manager then went to take a swig out of his bottle and – doink! The cork was still inside.
Two wet and wild postseason parties later, Thomson has mastered the art of uncorking his bottle while steering the Phillies toward a shot at their first World Series championship since 2008.
“How many more wins?” he asked after the Phillies won their NL Division Series in four games.
“We’ve got eight more Topper!” catcher J.T. Realmuto shouted, using Thomson’s nickname.
With that, the celebration was on full blast, and the official anthem of the postseason party, “Dancing on My Own,” was cranked to 11 to kick off the fun. The Phillies sang, danced and turned empty beer boxes into cardboard hats, and cigar smoke wafted throughout the clubhouse.
And why not?
First, the Phillies dumped the 93-win, NL Central champion St. Louis Cardinals and then outscored the Atlanta Braves 17-4 in two home games that sent the defending World Series champions packing.
Up next, Games 1 and 2 of the NLCS this week against the 89-win San Diego Padres. The Phillies won only 87 games, but who cares now? The Phillies sure don’t. Not once Rhys Hoskins spiked his bat on a monster homer. Or Realmuto became the first catcher in postseason history to hit an inside-the-park home run. Or as Aaron Nola tossed October ace outing after October ace outing. Bryce Harper had the Phillies believing with three postseason homers and a staggering 8-for-16 effort in four games against the Braves.
The early clinch lets the Phillies open the NLCS with their aces in order. Zack Wheeler is expected to start Game 1 on Tuesday and Nola, who took a perfect game into the seven inning in the wild-card clinching start, gets the Game 2 nod. Both pitchers should be available to start on short rest once the series shifts to Philadelphia over the weekend.
The Phillies are 5-1 to start a postseason for the first time in franchise history and the first time they have won 5 of 6 in any postseason stretch since 2009.
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