On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers advanced to the NLDS with a Wild Card round win over the Cincinnati Reds, two games to none. The victory sets up a matchup with the Philadelphia Phillies in the next round, with the winner moving on for the chance to play for a spot in the World Series.
One concerning theme from the Wild Card round for the Dodgers was the play of their bullpen, which made things much more interesting down the stretch than they probably should have been realistically.
Recently, FS1 sports media personality Colin Cowherd had a colorful analogy to describe Los Angeles' struggles in that department.
“Watching a Dodger game is like watching a horror movie with a great cast. You just wait til the last 10 minutes and see if your favorites survive,” said Cowherd, via Herd w/Colin Cowherd on X, formerly Twitter.
Indeed, the bullpen has been something of a question mark throughout this season, especially considering the plethora of injuries that the team has sustained in its pitching department.
Thankfully, the Dodgers' bats showed up in full fashion in the Wild Card series against the Reds, particularly in Game 1, when Los Angeles got two home runs apiece from Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernandez. Los Angeles will look to keep that offensive onslaught going when they face off against the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS.
Philadelphia enters this series coming off their second straight NL East crown. Dodgers fans will be hoping that the Phillies forget how to play baseball in a similar manner to the way they did last year in their NLDS series against the New York Mets.
In any case, Game 1 of the Dodgers vs Phillies series is set for Saturday evening at a time that has yet to be announced. Game 2 will follow that on Monday.
