Opinion: Losing to the Diamondbacks is bad? Let me tell you about the Dodgers of the 1990s
I think I’ve found an island of normalcy amid the sea of a world gone mad: For the third straight season, a 100-win Dodgers team lost in the playoffs to a club that couldn’t crack 90 victories.
Humiliating as losing to the 84-win Arizona Diamondbacks may be, things could be worse. We could be in the 1990s, when the Dodgers didn’t win a single game in the playoffs. I keep reminding my anguished 11-year-old that: You were born in 2012. You’ve seen the Dodgers play October baseball in all but one of your years. You’ve had a team to root for in the World Series three times. I lived through the 90s and the Frank McCourt era and the 29-year gap between the 1988 World Series triumph and the 2017 heartbreaker against the cheating Houston Astros. I know what the Dodger blues feel like.
But the heartbreak this year is real and, judging by some of the hot takes I’ve read, it borders on outrage. Baseball seems designed to disappoint: A dominating first-place season over 162 games ends because of a measly three-game skid at exactly the wrong time. And then we wait all winter to do it again next year.
Someone has to lose; what a shame it’s us this time.
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To the editor: Another amazing bang-up Dodgers season ends with a disappointing whimper. For so many years, after having a stellar record during the regular season, the Dodgers drop the ball in the playoffs.
I read all the sports columnists’ opinions as to the cause of this pattern — coaching mistakes, hitting problems, defense issues. But I always come back to a cause that I see every day in my work as a psychotherapist: performance anxiety.
During the season, when there are so many games and opportunities, it’s easy for players and coaches to better accept losses. But during the playoffs, when each game is “make it or break it,” the stress and anxiety are more severe.
What’s the solution? Hire a good therapist to work with the players on stress and anxiety management. The Dodgers should consider doing this before another playoff disaster.
Susan Shell, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Once again, we see a quick October in our plans of a Dodger championship run.
If you know baseball, you know that being hot in October is great, that players have varied ups and downs, and these are amplified in the playoffs. To say our two great stars at the top of our lineup, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, “choked” is a poor choice.
No one is more frustrated than Betts or Freeman, who are usually good for two runs a game by themselves on a regular basis.
Scott Hamre, Cherry Valley, Calif.
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To the editor: I’m so tired of everyone blaming Freeman and Betts for this playoff loss.
These two men carried the Dodgers throughout the year, but they ended with a slump. Yes, that’s what it’s called in baseball — it’s definitely not “choking.” Looking like you’re nervous and scared is choking, but in a slump, you just can’t find your swing. It happens to the best of them, and it happened to Betts and Freeman.
It’s exhausting to do what they did for 162 games. After carrying this team, it was time for the rest of the Dodger players to step up and produce in the playoffs — that’s how a team works. It’s “we got your back because you had ours all season.”
So, the writers and fans that don’t know baseball need to join those of us who do and applaud Freeman and Betts. They played amazing baseball all year. Recognize greatness when it’s in your own ballpark and celebrate it.
Losing hurts, but baseball is a team game, and there’s a lot of blame to go around.
Judy Thomsen, Glendora
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To the editor: The Dodgers played this series against the Diamondbacks worse than the Chicago White Sox played in the 1919 World Series. That was the infamous “Black Sox” scandal, and several members of the team were trying to lose.
I’m not accusing anyone of cheating. I’m pointing out that the current playoff format is ridiculous.
A short series where a wild-card team can knock out a 100-game winner does not reflect what championships are all about. Fans expect the World Series winner to have been among the few teams that had an outstanding season. This format does not work to that effect.
It’s time for Major League Baseball to re-think this.
Roger Zuch, Tujunga
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To the editor: The experience suffered by the Dodgers is what keeps baseball alive in the hearts of the fans. Anyone can win at any time, if you don’t quit.
But as a Dodger fan since 1947, having rooted for the team from the era of Ralph Branca and Don Newcombe in Brooklyn to the Clayton Kershaw era now, I hope that this is not the end of the Kershaw era.
There is more business to be done, and plenty of arms ready to do it.
William Bergmann, Hollywood
