The Los Angeles Dodgers won 14 of 19 matchups against the San Diego Padres during the 2022 regular season, but the script was flipped in their National League Division Series meeting.
The Dodgers went up 1-0, only to lose each of the next three games and get eliminated. Prior to that point, the Dodgers hadn’t lost a series to the Padres this year, or even dropped back-to-back games in their contests.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman deemed the NLDS loss an “organizational failure” for the Dodgers and believes it was the most devastating during his tenure.
Meanwhile, David Vassegh reported on SportsNet LA that Padres players believed the Dodgers overlooked them in the NLDS because of recent history:
“I had Padres players confide in me and tell me after the series was over, ‘Bro, your guys thought they could show up and beat us. Just show up and beat us. We knew that.'”
Last season the Dodgers went 12-7 against the Padres, buoyed by sweeping a trio of three-game series during the second half. In 2020, the Dodgers swept the Padres in the NLDS en route to winning their first world Series since 2018.
The Dodgers falling short in the 2022 NLDS largely stemmed from their struggles with runners in scoring position. They were mired in an 0-for-20 skid during such at-bats until Freddie Freeman’s two-run double in Game 4.
“I think if you were to boil it down in its simplest form, in the regular season, we led baseball in every statistical category with runners in scoring position. In this series, we were not good,” Friedman recently said.
“During the course of a season, we had peaks and valleys with runners in scoring position, and this was a valley. The question is, is it baseball? Or are there things we can do to improve upon that? Are there levers we can pull? Are there things to put us in a better position?
“Obviously, we had four-game stretches all throughout the year where we struggled, but in totality, we performed extremely well on that front. We had more opportunities than they did. They cashed in at a higher efficiency than we did.”
Joe Musgrove: Dodgers changed momentum with Tyler Anderson decision
Prior to the Padres’ belief being made public, Joe Musgrove shared a sense of relief felt in their dugout when the Dodgers removed Tyler Anderson after five innings in Game 4.
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