Los Angeles Dodgers: Alex Wood already making postseason excuses
By James Kelly
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood dropped a quote on Friday that should have fans absolutely livid regarding the team’s apparent lack of fight.
PR 101 for Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood, don’t let fans find out that the team has trouble motivating in the postseason.
According to Ross Newhan, a former LA Times columnist, Wood implied that the Dodgers’ constant presence in the postseason has made it difficult for them to “get up” for the games.
The Dodgers may still avoid another postseason failure, but this year's excuse is already building. Alex Wood said it, and Dave Roberts echoed it. It seems they have played so many postseason games that they have become stagnant and found it difficult to get up for them. Oh, boy.
— Ross Newhan (@RossNewhan1) October 16, 2020
"a lot of experience in these types of games. That's great. But you can also start to become a little stagnant a little bit -- at least speaking for myself -- passion-wise or that ability to get up for a big series or a big game when things like this ..." 2/more
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) October 15, 2020
Are you kidding me? If you can’t get amped up for a playoff game what the hell are we even doing here? Why does the front office sink hundreds of millions into the team every year? To win the regular season and hit cruise control for the playoffs?
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Every team in the league exists for the pursuit of one goal, and one goal only. Win the World Series. Something the Dodgers have come painfully close to doing every year for almost a decade. But apparently, all the postseason appearances have caused the club to grow weary of playoff games?
This is the time of the season that really matters. Nobody cares if the Dodgers take their foot off of the gas during the regular season. As long as they’re in the postseason, they have a legitimate shot at winning it all.
What Dodgers fans will never excuse, however, is treating postseason games like a lazy Sunday afternoon game in September. You absolutely need to scratch and claw in the postseason, because that’s what every other team is doing. You cannot afford to punt a game because you fall down early, as seemed to be the case in Game Four’s 10-2 loss.
And even if that’s the case, don’t take this out of the locker room man. Believe whatever you want behind closed doors, but under no circumstances should you let your diehard fans know that sometimes you’re just not feeling up for a comeback in the postseason. The fans deserve 110% effort from the players on every pitch of postseason baseball.
Regardless of the implications of this quote, however, the Dodgers did show up for Game Five. They mounted a comeback in the sixth inning that propelled them to a comfortable 7-3 win to avoid elimination.
Should Roberts be on the hot seat?. dark. Next
Hopefully, that’s the same energy they bring in Games Six and Seven. I’d hate to see Los Angeles Dodgers fans watch their team go home early because they’ve played in so many postseason games that they can’t motivate themselves to fight back from an early deficit.