The Dodgers fell short again, but they were also here again, at the end of a season that began with 10 more losses than victories. The thought was not lost on them.
“I think you have to realize that we are a really good team to get to go to the World Series two years in a row,” Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw said, his response to a question about how the organization can improve to finally win it all. “It might not be a personnel thing; it might just be a ‘play better’ thing.”
Kershaw, the preeminent pitcher of his generation, embodies that statement, his October struggles remaining at the forefront. He took the mound needing a win to extend the Dodgers’ season in Game 5 of the World Series on Sunday night, but he gave up four runs in seven innings — off home runs by Steve Pearce, Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez — and was ultimately outdueled by David Price in a 5-1 loss.cheap nike nfl jerseys from china
One night after blowing their first four-run lead in 55 chances this season, and two nights after winning a record-setting 18-inning game in walk-off fashion, the Dodgers were held to only three hits in what became the last game of the series.
In Game 1, the Dodgers were crippled by defensive mistakes. In Game 2, a rough fifth inning sealed their fate. Throughout, they didn’t hit nearly enough, which gave their bullpen — a persistent concern throughout the summer — a razor-thin margin for error.
The Red Sox won, Manny Machado said, because “they capitalized on mistakes.” The Dodgers made too many of them.
“We did the best we could,” Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig said in Spanish. “We could’ve done more and won the championship, but it slipped through our hands. We basically gifted it to Boston, which is a great team. We made bad decisions, we did bad things on the field. We made it easier on them to win.”
The Red Sox clinched their fourth championship in 14 years while the Dodgers continued to search for their first one in 30.
They were eliminated by the Houston Astros after the maximum seven games in 2017, and are now the first team since the Texas Rangers of 2010 and 2011 to lose back-to-back World Series. Three teams have returned to the World Series a third straight time after losing two in a row, a list that includes the 1909 Detroit Tigers, the 1913 New York Giants and the 1923 New York Yankees. Only the Yankees won it the third time.cheap official nike nfl jerseys
“The pain that you have last year, it really hurts, but the good thing is that it motivates you to get back here — and we did,” Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen said. “This one hurts, too. You can say all the good things and motivate yourself, but at the end of the day, we’re still human. It’s still going to hurt.”