It was a declaration, a reminder and a warning while wrapped in one.
THE Riders Maybe not played their best baseball in the World Series this weekend against New York Yankees.
But in an incessant offensive attack in the first two heats on Saturday, things suddenly seemed, deeply and perhaps permanently.
The Dodgers have not only beat the Yankees in a television end of afternoon competition nationally to win a victory in a weekend series at the Dodger Stadium. They executed a massacre in broad daylight. Four points scored during the first round. Six others came in the second. And in the end, their 18-2 Victory I have more than implemented the chance to sweep the final of the Sunday series.
He has sent a blow through the arc to the rest of the world of baseball, which means that for all the gaps of the dodgers lately, they could finally click on Top Gear.
“We have been playing in some way in intermediate baseball for some time now,” said manager Dave Roberts. “So maybe it took a club like the Yankees to bring us, you know, reset and intensify our game. And we did it for these last two nights.”
Admittedly, the dodgers did not have exactly trouble hitting. Upon entering Saturday, they finished second in the majors of the points scored, second in OP and first on average in the stick. They had obtained the production of monsters from Shohei Ohtani,, Freddie Freeman,, Teoscar Hernández And Will Smith. And, largely on the strength of their alignment, they directed the West National League, still at a rate of almost 100 victories in their quest for a second consecutive title of the World Series.
However, over a large part of last month, he had the impression of missing.
The teams from the team by the team has put pressure on their recent game, leading to a slide 11-12 entering the brand of the Yankees of this weekend.
And their attack accepted only a large part of the relaxation, weighed down by the first collapses of Mookie Betts,, Max MUNCY And Michael Comfortoas well as inconsistent performance of other horseshowers in lower half.
Michael Comforto, on the left, famous with Hyeseong Kim after having marked a double RBI by Tommy Edman during the second round on Saturday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“The last two weeks have certainly been a version, with everything we have experienced,” said Roberts.
This led to discomfort embodied by a lack of moments of signature. Since then, the Tigers of Detroit at the start of the regular season if the Dodgers have won a series against a pretender in the legitimate title. They had only 10-9 in total against opponents with winning records.
Roberts minimized this notion on Friday.
“We know that we have a good ball club, and I don’t think we are not winning a series against X quantity of teams with winning records is an indictment on our ball club,” he said. “I don’t think we are thinking about it too much.”
Again, with the Yankees coming to town as winners of 16 of their 20 previous games, it always looked like a decisive test – even if Betts had been released with a fractured toe And pitch staff remained much less than full strength.
“We are trying to win every match, of course,” said Ohtani in Japanese on Friday evening, “but I think it’s a special atmosphere.”
Two games, he produced some special results.
After coming from behind for Fly on Friday night’s opening matchThe Dodgers (36-22) did not waste time on Saturday by putting the foot on the neck of the Yankees firmly.
At the bottom of the first, Ohtani, Freeman, Smith and Muncy have all chosen in the first five at-bats against the starter of the Yankees Recus Will Warrenmarking two points. Comforto then added a sacrifice fly, before Tommy Edman Hit a hard earth ball that exceeded the third basic player (and the former Dodgers Farmhand) Jorbit Vivas for a double score, punctuating a round in which the dodgers struck.
In the second, the Dodgers again sent the nine strikers to the plate. After walks from Hernández and Freeman, Muncy hit a three -point circuit on the right, chasing Warren from the match with his 200th Ball in career. Edman doubled another race with two withdrawals at home. SO Hyeseong Kim I obtained the two -digit dodgers, hitting his second home run of the season.
Max Muncy hits a three -point home run during the second round for the Dodgers on Saturday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
As the Yankees (35-22) recorded their first blow on the single Austin Wells’ single in the third, it was already 10-0.
“You could say it was a statement,” said Muncy. “For us, to do it without Mookie too, I think it’s huge for everyone who tries to take over in the programming. It’s just a very good day offensively all around. Even last night was a very good night for us. So, just having several good games in a row, it’s big for boys.”
As a starting launcher Landon Talle crossed six strong rounds with the big advance – he abandoned his only race on a solo explosion of the fourth round of Aaron judgeHis first of the two long balls during the day – the dodgers continued to add.
In the fifth, Freeman faced a race with his 525th double career, equaling Willie Mays and Ted Williams for the 46th most of all.
Then, Muncy left in depth, continuing his recent increase by surrounding three points of three points on the pole for lack of the right field, equaling a career summit with seven points produced during the day.
During his last 19 games, Muncy bats now .300 with five circuits, 24 products produced and one .991 OPS.
“I’m just trying to rely on positive points,” he said. “In the past few weeks, I thought I was really good for me, and today was a very good game. Try to build on it, continue to move the momentum.”
Muncy is not the only dripping of the warming dodgers. Edman broke a recent cold sequence with three strokes. Kim also succeeded in four strokes, plus two stellar defensive games: to double a runner to the second goal with an effort to dive from the stopped stop during the third round, then throwing the judge in the second row with a perfect jet of Deep Center after moving to the outside field. Andy pages Has maintained its strong shape with a solo home run in the seventh. Dalton Rushing Hit his first home run in a career in the eighth.
“It’s contagious,” said Roberts. “People talk about (how) to strike is contagious and winning, losing, all that. And there are just guys who want to get up. I’m sure they feel it. It’s just that adrenaline, this emotion in the canoe.”
The biggest stars of the Dodgers, on the other hand, continued to dominate.
Ohtani, coming out of his second live shot practice as a launcher before the match (he launched 29 throws on two simulated rounds), succeeded two strokes, passing his OP to 1.062.
In the National League, only Freeman has a better brand in this category, ending on Saturday at 1.078 (to accompany his average stick of 0.374) after his own projection of two strokes.
Combine all this with the imminent feedback from launchers such as Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki, Michael Kopech, Kirby Yates and Blake Treinen – who could all be back in the next month or two, and in some cases, they were earlier – and the Dodgers are starting to look more like Juggernaut, they were supposed to be all time.
“It’s certainly nice to win any match (by a score of 18-2),” said Roberts. “But to beat these guys, it’s always good. It’s always good to beat the Yankees. You know, they are the class of the American League at the moment. And each time you can beat these guys, you feel good.”
