Dodgers need to capitalize with runners in scoring position

Remember back in the blissfully unaware days of last week when we were just questioning the use of Corey Knebel as an opener?

Sunday night’s loss is now providing nightmare fuel for those who question the Dodgers’ front office decision-making. The decision to use Max Scherzer in late innings on Thursday led to his short start on Sunday. Scherzer said, “I could tell when I was warming up that [my arm] was still tired.” Now, Alden Gonzalez at ESPN asks if Julio Urías is getting set up for the same situation in Game 4.

AJ Cassavell at MLB.com writes my least favorite sentence that we’ve all thought too frequently watching the Dodgers this season: “They didn’t capitalize.” It sure seems like being able to capitalize is what gets a team through October. Looking at the other teams still left in the postseason, the Dodgers and Braves are actually pretty fairly matched in this regard. But that doesn’t really make me feel a ton better after watching the Braves walk it off two nights in a row.

For what it’s worth, the Astros lead baseball with RISP during the regular season, too. One thing the Dodgers are leading with in the postseason? Stolen bases.

Besides improvement at the plate with runners in scoring position, Jack Harris at the LA Times has five tips to help Dodgers climb out of 2-0 hole against Braves in NLCS.

If you’re into top five lists, then Mike Axisa at CBS Sports has a few different things the Dodgers can do to come back against the Braves.

Joc Pederson joins an elite club of players who has homered for both the Dodgers and against them. David O’Brien at The Athletic writes that Joctober exists because Pederson is “a virtuoso of slugging in postseason after postseason.”

Molly Knight at The Long Game writes of the Dodgers’ weekend, “Maybe nobody told them the Braves were good?” Here’s hoping the Dodgers were spent from the Wild Card and then the immediate NLDS series with the Giants, and being back at home will be just what the Doc ordered.

For a wider look at not only the Dodgers but the championship series chaos altogether, Matt Martell at Sports Illustrated writes, “It’s as if the four managers were going to a potluck, and for whatever reason, are now bringing something completely different from what they had promised.”