How Los Angeles Dodgers Can Win 2024 World Series | Deadspin.com

The shiny hood ornament that is Shohei Ohtani can sometimes distract from the fact that while the car is luxury, it might not be all that it seems.How Los Angeles Dodgers Can Win 2024 World Series | Deadspin.com

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been that elite ride that has been in the shop more often than it should but has advanced to the World Series anyway. It will need a number of elements to go its way in order to win the franchise’s first title since 2020 and first in a full season since 1988.How Los Angeles Dodgers Can Win 2024 World Series | Deadspin.com

The Dodgers were baseball’s best team in the regular season at 98-64, four games better than the 94-68 Yankees. In the three games the teams played against each other at New York in June, the Dodgers won two and outscored the Yankees 17-10.

That early-season Dodgers team had a full complement of starters, though. This one has three: Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler. They have also been covering games with their well-documented bullpen games.

While the bullpen efforts have provided two postseason victories in three tries, including an elimination game win in the NLDS and the deciding game of the NLCS, that could be where the Dodgers are most vulnerable.

Getting three relievers in a game to be in sync is hard enough, much less the eight they used in Game 4 of the NLDS and the seven that went to the mound in Game 6 of the NLCS. Bullpen management by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has been stellar, and it will have to continue against the high-octane Yankees.

To their credit, the Dodgers have shunned roles for their relievers, not just from the coaching staff but from the pitchers themselves. Right-hander Michael Kopech has pitched anywhere from the first to the third, fifth and eighth innings in the postseason.

“In my opinion, this is the best team ever constructed, and to be able to contribute to a team like that really fills my heart,” said Kopech, a late-July addition from the historically bad Chicago White Sox.

On offense, the Dodgers are facing a somewhat similar predicament. Ohtani and Mookie Betts have thrived in the postseason, but each have had their struggles as well. 

Ohtani was 0-for-22 at one point when at the plate without a runner on base, then hit a home run to lead off Game 4 against the Mets. 

Betts was 0-for-22 in any scenario before hitting a home run in Game 3 of the NLDS.

Yet the offense remains a concern, even after it scored 46 runs in six NLCS games for an average of 7.7 per game. It was Tommy Edman that led the team with 11 RBIs in the NLCS, while Kiké Hernandez has been far better than his regular-season production with a .303 batting average. .863 OPS, two home runs and five RBIs in nine playoff games (eight starts). 

Despite big hits in Game 6 of the NLCS, Teoscar Hernandez and Will Smith had been struggling. And Freddie Freeman has one hit in his last 15 at-bats as he hobbles on a sprained ankle. The Dodgers are not likely to get past the Yankees without Freeman’s typical production and stellar play on defense at first base.

But the Dodgers say they got through the NLDS and NLCS with togetherness and love. Really. And they hope the harmony theme continues to provide success.

“When you have 13, 14, 15 guys in that dugout when they’re all hanging on every pitch, hanging on every swing with you in the batter’s box and you can hear them and you can feel them, that makes a big difference,” Max Muncy said.

In the end, the Dodgers do have Ohtani coming to the plate as many as five times a game. After a regular season with 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases, he has delivered a .286 batting average, a .934 OPS, three home runs and 10 RBIs so far in his first postseason. 

“Just being able to play on this kind of stage with the team effort, and all the games that were really hard, I'm just glad that we're at this stage right now,” Ohtani said.