The Los Angeles Dodgers showed on Tuesday just how big the gulf in quality between their and the Cincinnati Reds’ squad truly is when they took a 10-5 win to come to within one win away from punching their ticket to the NLDS to face the Philadelphia Phillies. After all, this Dodgers team won the NL West crown after going 93-69 in the regular season, while the Reds simply took advantage of a horrific collapse from the New York Mets to sneak into the NL Wild Card series with an 83-win season.
Things were going so swimmingly for the Dodgers that not even their bullpen that’s been so horrendous in the month of September could stop them from winning Game 1. They were leading 8-0 at one point before they allowed the Reds to drive in five runs in the seventh and eighth innings to cut into their lead.
While any postseason victory should make a fanbase happy, the Dodgers’ supporters expect the reigning World Series champion to simply take care of business without much fuss. They channeled some of their disappointment towards manager Dave Roberts, whom Dodgers fans are blaming for making them feel some anxiety despite having a commanding lead in a playoff game.
Some fans believe that Roberts should simply stop relying on his volatile relievers and use some of his more surehanded starters as relievers instead.
“There’s no way you should feel any stress in a game where you score 10 runs and your starter goes 7 innings of 2-run ball 😭,” X user @dodgernate wrote.
“Dave Roberts got complacent,” @Marco_AVR21 added.
“I’d like to believe that had the game been a lot closer in the 8th inning, Dave Roberts would have used Emmett Sheehan or Roki Sasaki out of the bullpen,” @catholiclawyer furthered.
“Hasn’t occurred to Dave Roberts to try something different from what has already caused multiple losses,” @honatan22 pointed out.
“Dave Roberts thinking because it’s the postseason that somehow those bums in the bullpen would get it together, nope one wrong move after another 🤦🏽,” @Red_Gouf_86 opined.
Dodgers in driver’s seat in NL Wild Card series vs. Reds
The Dodgers bullpen has blown so many games in recent memory that fans are not trusting them every time Roberts calls upon their names. Nonetheless, the Dodgers offense came to play anyway, scoring enough runs that not even their unreliable bullpen could find a way to blow the game.
The Dodgers will look to formally dispatch of the Reds tomorrow night, with first pitch of Game 2 being thrown tomorrow at 9:08 AM E.T.
