2023-10-06 16:19:39
LOS ANGELES — What do the Diamondbacks have to do to change the results of their clashes with the Dodgers?
It is a film that has been seen many times in the last decade. In fact, Los Angeles has defeated Arizona 57 times in the last five seasons, the most dominance by one team over another in MLB in that span. In 2023, the Blues took eight of the 13 games between the two teams, which includes a sweep at Dodger Stadium in late August, in which Los Angeles averaged 5.5 runs per game and defeated Arizona’s two aces, Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly.
Speaking of Kelly, the right-hander — the Diamondbacks’ starter Saturday in Game 1 of the National League Division Series once morest the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, opposite Clayton Kershaw — is 0-11 with a 5.49 ERA in 16 career starts once morest the Dodgers.
“I don’t think it’s anyone’s secret that the Dodgers have been able to dominate all of us in the division, and us in particular,” Gallen said, following Arizona eliminated Milwaukee in the Wild Card Series on Wednesday. “But I also think we have grown some, around the change in our mentality and our culture, to go to Dodger Stadium and play one on one with them.”
For Arizona to have any chance of fighting Los Angeles in this series, it will have to improve right there at the home of the Dodgers, where the desert team is 5-24 since 2020, including 2-5 in the 2023 regular campaign.
And for those keeping score, the Dodgers won the only two games in Los Angeles that these two teams have played in the playoffs, en route to a 3-0 sweep of the Diamondbacks in the 2017 National League Division Series.
“We haven’t played very well once morest them,” said Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen, who built a roster led by manager Torey Lovullo that won 84 games in 2023 before sweeping the Brewers this week in the round. of the Wild Card. “But now we have a new season, as we have talked regarding.
“They are going to have to beat us. “We are a very difficult team.”
It was a regular season to remember in the desert, where the Diamondbacks became just the third team in Major League history to go from 110 losses (2021) to the playoffs in a span of two seasons. With Gallen and Kelly leading the rotation, supported by the increasingly improving Brandon Pfaadt and a relief team that now features a formidable quartet of Ryan Thompson, Kevin Ginkel, Andrew Saalfrank and Paul Sewald — the group that completely stopped Milwaukee this week – Arizona has stabilized its pitching quite a bit.
And on offense, a mix of youth led by the brilliant rookie Corbin Carroll has combined with veterans such as the Dominican Ketel Marte, Christian Walker and the Cuban Lourdes Gurriel Jr. – among others – to give pause to any opposing pitch.
“We do a lot of things pretty well,” Hazen said. “I think if we do those things, we will put up a fight.”
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