The Dodgers' season was abruptly halted when their $527 million superstars went AWOL.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were sitting in the Chase Field dugout with somber expressions on their faces just over a week after celebrating their 100th win
for the fourth straight 162-game season while the Arizona Diamondbacks celebrated their NLDS sweep.
This is the Dodgers' second straight NLDS loss to a division opponent that they dominated throughout the regular season.
It is the team's sixth postseason defeat in a row. Since 2019, the Dodgers have only won one playoff series that was not played
at a neutral site with few (or no) fans in attendance. It is the first time since 2006 that the team has been swept in a playoff series.
Several causes were to fault. Poor starting pitching that placed the team behind right away; an uninspired offense that appeared
to have abandoned its regular-season philosophy; and a coach who could have pulled his third starter before he allowed his third or fourth home run in one inning.
However, much of the burden should not be placed on the starters (after all, Bobby Miller and Lance Lynn did not put the club in insurmountable trouble).
And it should certainly not be placed on Dave Roberts. The awful offensive performance led by Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman was to blame for this absolute disgrace.
This season, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman were the strongest 1-2 punch in baseball. The two future Hall of Famers will finish second
The Rock's Dwayne Johnson says, "I could've been better," in response to criticism of the Maui wildfire fund.