Dodgers: 3 Trends That Need to be Reversed In October

Offensive Struggles 

Besides Justin Turner, the Dodger offense has struggled as a whole over the past few playoff appearances. While there have been some issues with their pitching, many of the issues stem from lack of offensive production. Let’s take a look at the last three playoffs:

2016 – .249 AVG, .728 OPS, .227 RISP Average

2015 – .238 AVG, .626 OPS, .261 RISP Average

2014 – .292 AVG, .695 OPS, .195 RISP Average

Besides 2014, the Dodgers have struggled to get many hits and even when they hit for a good average in 2014 they still struggled mightily with runners in scoring position. I didn’t list the average for RISP with two outs, but as you can probably imagine the average is even worse.

While some will argue that the numbers will be down in the playoffs since the top three pitchers from every team are used, it still doesn’t excuse the Dodgers struggles, especially in the clutch when they have an opportunity to drive in runs.

For 2016, two of the Dodgers top hitters struggled as Seager hit .205 in the post-season and Adrian Gonzalez hit .195. That is unacceptable from the second and fourth hitters in a playoff lineup.

Something to note is that Seager also struggled his rookie year in 2015 when he only hit .183 in the playoffs. So this year Seager will look to shrug off his playoff struggles despite his elbow injury.

Justin Turner has been flaming hot in the playoffs no matter what year it is. He has a career .357 batting average in the postseason with an OPS over .1000. Guys this year like Chris Taylor, Cody Bellinger and Corey Seager need to help Turner out this October.

If 1-4 in the order can reverse the struggles of the previous years, then this might be the Dodgers’ year.

Kershaw needs to be an Ace in October

By this time we have all heard about the playoff struggles of Clayton Kershaw. There is arguably no greater regular season pitcher in the MLB history than Kershaw, but for whatever reason, he has not pitched like an ace for the majority of his postseason career.  While he has had some excellent starts, he has not put together a streak of good ones.  Here’s a look at the past three postseason runs for Kershaw:

2016 – 4.44 ERA, .253 AVG against, two home runs allowed in four starts

2015 – 2.63 ERA. two home runs allowed in only two starts

2014 – 7.82 ERA, three home runs allowed in only two starts

Aside from 2015, Kershaw has had a rough go at it during the past three playoff runs. Although he heroically saved a game last season, he failed to post the stats we are accustomed to seeing from this generation’s greatest starting pitcher.

He has been plagued by the home run ball, and for whatever reason, he seems to run into issues in the seventh inning. Whether this is due to fatigue, or simply getting beat, the Dodgers hope to avoid fatigue issues by using four starters in the NLDS and not letting Kershaw pitch on short rest.

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Another issue that seems to stand out in the playoffs for Kershaw is his struggles against left-handed hitters.

In 2016, left-handed hitters hit .278 off Kershaw compared to a .247 average against right-handed hitters in the postseason. In 2015, the difference was even bigger has lefties hit .263 off Kershaw with two home runs compared to no home runs and a .071 average by righty batters.

While Kershaw dominates lefties in the regular season, they seem to be getting the better of him in the playoffs. Kershaw will need to reverse this trend along with his overall struggles if the Dodgers want to have any chance of winning it all.

Setup relievers have been a nightmare in the Playoffs

Another trend the Dodgers need to reverse this October is the struggles of their bullpen. Last year they regularly used Kenley Jansen for multiple innings and even called on Kershaw to close out one game that Kenley Jansen wasn’t able to. Having to use your ace as a closer in the first round of the playoffs is not a good sign.

Let’s take a look at the key set-up men of the last three playoff bullpens:

2016 – Grant Dayton (8.10 ERA), Joe Blanton (7.88 ERA), Ross Stripling (8.31 ERA)

2015 – Pedro Baez (81.00 ERA), Alex Wood (18.00 ERA), Chris Hatcher (0.00 ERA)

2014 – JP Howell (13.50 ERA), Pedro Baez (7.71 ERA), Brandon League (0.00 ERA)

The irony in the struggles of the Dodgers setup men has been that two of the most hated relievers by fans in recent memory did not allow a single postseason run in Chris Hatcher and Brandon League (albeit in limited action).

Pedro Baez has seemingly struggled every post-season with the exception of last year where he had a 2.57 ERA. Blanton who was the Dodgers primary eighth-inning option last year was absolutely terrible and Grant Dayton scuffled after coming along strong towards the middle of last season.

This season the Dodgers will have Brandon Morrow for the seventh or eighth inning and he has electric stuff.  Hopefully, this will translate to postseason success although he hasn’t been in the playoffs before.

The Dodgers are still sorting through their southpaw relievers in Avilan, Watson, and Cingrani to see who gets the main LOOGY role but the expectation is that Avilan and Watson will get the most usage.

Ryu and Maeda could also become middle relief options in October and then there is the rookie phenom Walker Buehler who could make the postseason roster.

Next: Are Ryu & Maeda X-Factors for this year's playoff run?

All in all these are the three main areas the Dodgers will need to improve on to make a successful championship run. Lets see if they could put their past playoff struggles behind them and bring LA its first World Series title since 1988.