Dodgers: Key Players That Need to Step Up in the NLCS

Yasiel Puig

Continuing on the theme of elite nicknames we have the Wild Horse. This is the player we expected to see over the past few season since his arrival. But hey, better late than never. Puig is just flat out fun to watch. His tongue wagging, bat licking, Turner Ward kissing antics are good for TV. He brings an energy to this team that was missing in previous post-season series’.

On a team where outside of the starting rotation little emotion is shown, it is good to have that one player who wears his emotion on his sleeve. With so many blue-collar guys around the field, Puig is a breath of fresh air. Some players are robots who never get too high or too low and remain level-headed (I’m looking at you, Corey).

He fits the perfect cliché mold of a spark plug. He brings an energy that is unmatched by anyone on the team. Sometimes that can be his demise, but if he is on like has been, It gets the players and fans going. He can spark rallies for this team. The team and all of Chavez Ravine feed off of his flare and energy both on and off the field.

Perhaps the fact that he wasn’t who he is now has hurt the Dodgers in the past. Every team needs a player like him. Even a team like the Royals who had a team filled with blue collar guys had a guy in Eric Hosmer who was the spark plug for the team and was one of the driving forces behind that World Series title. Puig’s antics help this team overall, and if he is on in this series, it can help spark the entire offense.