So much for the Los Angeles Dodgers continuing their steamrolling ways through the MLB Postseason in the World Series. The Toronto Blue Jays put a swift end to that with an emphatic 11-4 victory in Game 1 at the Rogers Centre on Friday night, including only the third nine-run inning in World Series history. Now, the heavily favored Dodgers appear to have lost their momentum and need to dust themselves off and respond in order to prevent the Fall Classic from snowballing.
If we're playing the blame game for the World Series opener on Friday, there's plenty to go around. Did Dave Roberts leave Blake Snell in the game too long? Why didn't some of the high-priced sluggers on the roster pull their weight while the Blue Jays' cast of characters stepped up one after another? And the Dodgers bullpen, which has been problematic at times throughout the year, didn't help the case either.
At the same time, though, it's also not difficult to pinpoint the biggest spots that the Dodgers can be better moving forward. Specifically looking at Game 2 and to avoid being behind two games before the World Series switches venues to beautiful Dodger Stadium in LA, these four players need to rise to the occasion if this team is going to avoid digging itself into a hole it might have a hard time climbing out from.
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Shohei Ohtani needs to make an earlier impact
Considering that Shohei Ohtani delivered one of the most dominant single-game performances in MLB history to close the NLCS and also provided half of the Dodgers' offense on Friday night in Game 1 of the World Series with his sixth home run of the postseason, it might feel a bit rich to say that he needs to step up moving forward.
His Game 1 performance, however, looks better on paper than it did on the field. Ohtani's home run came after the Blue Jays' nine-run inning that put Los Angeles in an 11-2 hole in the contest. Prior to that, he was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and three men left on base. When the Dodgers were still in the thick of the contest, the superstar two-way player was nowhere to be found.
This isn't calling him a low-leverage merchant or anything of the sort. I believe history shows that's far from the case. At the same time, with Ohtani in the leadoff spot, the Dodgers direly need him to be a tone-setter and a momentum shifter. You can't tell me that getting past Ohtani on multiple occasions wasn't a big lift for someone like young Trey Yesavage or any of the other Toronto pitchers.
While Ohtani's OPS for the postseason is clear of 1.000, his average is still actually just .222 in the playoffs thus far. There needs to be a bit more consistency in his at-bats and, thus, productivity at the plate for him to really make a big impact and try to quiet the Toronto crowd, especially after the "We don't need you" chants on Friday night.
Roki Sasaki must be a tour de force out of the bullpen
Once things got out of hand in Game 1, we saw Dave Roberts turn to some of his lower leverage options out of the bullpen. That, of course, meant that Roki Sasaki didn't see the mound on Friday night. However, in what could be construed as a must-win Game 2 for the Dodgers given the potential 0-2 hole in the World Series that a loss would put them in, everyone should fully expect extreme aggression with the bullpen, which likely means Sasaki taking the mound in a big spot or two for LA.
Sasaki has been absolute nails in the playoffs to this point, allowing just three hits and one earned run across seven appearances and eight innings pitched thus far. He's been the dominant force, albeit not in the role that was expected, that fans hoped he'd be when the club made the much-hyped international signing this offseason.
While Snell was certainly at fault for putting the bullpen in a tough position on Friday night, though, the bullpen ultimately imploded under the pressure of that situation. That's been a pain point for the Dodgers throughout the year, but Sasaki has proven to be a stabilizing force for that group, especially in his work thus far in the postseason.
The last thing that the Dodgers can afford is for Sasaki's early-season struggles to resurface when he's called upon almost surely in Game 2. He needs to be the stud that was promised. He's more than capable, without question, but it's about delivering when others who were capable haven't to this point early in the World Series.
Dodgers need another gem from Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Who could forget the last time that we saw Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the bump for Los Angeles? The Japanese flamethrower mowed down the Brewers one batter after another in a complete game gem, allowing just four baserunners (three hits, one walk) and one run in a dominant 5-1 win for the Dodgers. Now, he's getting the ball for Game 2 of the World Series, and while asking for another complete game might be a bit much — particularly against this Blue Jays lineup — but they do need another gem.
The good news is that Yamamoto largely just needs to do exactly what he has been for almost two months now. Outside of the NLDS start against the Phillies in which he gave up three runs across four innings, you have to go back to Aug. 11 to find the last time before that in which Yamamoto failed to make it out of the fifth inning. Furthermore, the start against the Phillies was the first time he allowed more than two earned runs since Aug. 18, a run that included seven starts of allowing one or no earned runs.
Again, doing something like that against Toronto is no small task. At the same time, we know that Yamamoto is completely capable of doing exactly that. And the Dodgers desperately need one of their aces to come in and be a force that carries them while also taking pressure off of the offense. Since Yamamoto is the one with the ball on Saturday night, he's the one who will be tasked with delivering such results.
World Series MVP Freddie Freeman needs to show back up
Every Dodgers fan hasn't forgotten the Freddie Freeman heroics of last year against the Yankees. He felt like an automatic big hit waiting to happen every time that he had the lumber in his hands. Unfortunately, we just simply haven't seen that from the star first baseman throughout most of this postseason, and certainly not in Game 1 of the World Series.
Freeman finished the loss going 0-for-3 with a walk. While he didn't strike out on the night, the contact was clearly not clean. What was more concerning is that Freeman simply didn't look right at the plate. His approach and swing were not the pure butter that we're used to seeing from the perennial All-Star and last year's World Series MVP.
Of course, when you're talking about someone who can turn that around in an instant, there are few better candidates to do so than Freeman. He's battle-tested and proven over many years to be built to hit a baseball and hit it hard. But the pressure is on him because of how badly the Dodgers need him to flip that switch and quickly.
With Freeman in the heart of the lineup and, in no small part, with Ohtani not hitting for average either, the Dodgers need their first baseman to heat up with a quickness. They need him to come through in big opportunities to either drive in runs or move guys into scoring position more consistently. That's even truer of the LA pitching doesn't step up in its own right, but Freeman could complete the picture if he's able to get the ball rolling offensively as well.