4 fatal decisions that resulted in Dodgers getting swept by Diamondbacks

First and foremost, let's get this out of the way: the Los Angeles Dodgers' starting pitching and offense is fully to blame for the NLDS sweep at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks. There's no excuse for how Clayton Kershaw, Bobby Miller, Lance Lynn, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman performed.

That said ... if the Dodgers had any foresight, knowing that their roster regularly disappears in October, perhaps they couldn't done a bit of work to get ahead of it. It takes an entire organization -- top to bottom -- making the right decisions and coming through in the biggest moments to capture a World Series.

LA's decision makers knew this team was down bad. They suffered a ton of injuries, experienced a number of regressions, and were relying a lot on rookie performances and one-year flyer players to get them through what ended up being an impressive 2023 season.

But as we all know, the playoffs are a different beast. It doesn't matter how you perform from April-September. Any contending rosters needs to be near-ironclad with adequate depth and enough veterans/clutch performers to even entertain going on a deep run.

Combined with all of that not necessarily being present on the Dodgers -- something that was well known once the conversation shifted to October baseball -- whoever made these calls further put the team in a terrible spot that sealed their fate.

4 fatal decisions that resulted in Dodgers getting swept by Diamondbacks

Giving Each Starter too Long of a Leash

Maybe this is nitpicking because the Dodgers were already up against it with an ailing rotation, but some might argue both Kershaw and Miller were left in for too long as everything continued to spiral. The Dodgers had plenty of bullpen assistance and didn't seem to act with the necessary urgency. For example, after seeing what had happened to Kershaw, the Dodgers could've exercised caution and removed Miller after he allowed his second run in the first inning.

When Lance Lynn took the mound in Game 3, it was already too late. He pitched two clean innings, then gave up four solo homers in the third inning, and Dave Roberts couldn't pull him because he went homer, out, homer, out, homer, homer. It all happened so fast.

As it pertained to Kershaw and Miller, they were faltering from the start and the warning signs were there. Probably should've yanked them a couple batters earlier and maybe the damage wouldn't have been as daunting for the offense to respond.