Dodgers latest September surge putting them in perfect playoff position
The cliché is to compare Major League Baseball’s regular season to a marathon.On Tuesday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts used the mile as his analogy instead.“The third leg is the hardest leg,” Roberts explained, drawing a comparison to the four laps run in mile-long 1600-meter races.“I think it’s just kind of like that.”Indeed, the Dodgers came flying out of the gates at the start of this year, reaching Independence Day with five more wins than any other team in the majors.
But then, in a repeat of last season, came an early second-half slide, with the club going 23-26 over its subsequent 49 games.The third lap –– especially for an aging roster coming off back-to-back World Series marches –– was taking its toll.“You can layer in the fact that we’ve had a lot of seasons together, and played a lot of baseball,” Roberts said.“I think that’s just kind of part of it.”This week, however, has brought another familiar turn in the Dodgers’ pursuit of a third-straight title.Also like last season, they have begun returning to form as October has appeared on the horizon, matching a season-long win streak on Tuesday by collecting their sixth victory in a row with a 3-2 defeat of the Cincinnati Reds.“You get that second wind in September,” Roberts said.The sprint to the playoffs, it seems, is officially on.It was at almost this exact point last season when the Dodgers made a similar shift following a late-summer slump.
On Sept.6, they were walked off for a second-straight night by the Baltimore Orioles.
They were in a dogfight in the NL West after a 22-32 slump.From there, though, they closed the regular season on a 15-5 tear, locked up the NL West crown in the final week of the regular season, and proceeded to win nine of their first 10 playoff games en route to a second-consecutive title.This year, the turnaround has begun a few days earlier.And this time, another strong finish should put the club in an even better playoff spot.With Tue...