The consensus heading into the 2017 season was that the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs would meet in the postseason one year after the two teams matched up well in the National League Championship Series.
On Thursday, that notion became a reality when the Cubs staved off the Washington Nationals in Game 5 of the NL Division Series to advance to the next round. The club encountered some travel issues en route to Los Angeles, but have arrived for the NLCS against a well-rested Dodgers team.
Last season, the Dodgers took the eventual World Series champion Cubs to six games and at one point held a 2-1 lead in the series. This time around, Los Angeles figures to match up with Chicago more prominently.
“It’s very interesting once again,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said after his team advanced to the NLCS. “They are different because they really overcame the inability to really work against lefties. They are better.
“They made some nice moves. They are more balanced in that regard. They have lefties that hit lefties, too, which make them more difficult.”
In 2016, the Dodgers posted historically bad numbers against left-handed pitching across the board, including a league-worst .213 batting average and 71 wRC+.
Just one year later, the club has exceptionally improved against southpaws. Among NL teams during the regular season, Los Angeles boasted the highest wRC+ against left-handed pitching (109) and placed second to the Colorado Rockies in on-base plus slugging percentage (.789).
The emergence of Chris Taylor, who hit .297/.351/.486 against left-handers, and Justin Turner’s rebound season against the opposite split (1.181 OPS, second only to Nolan Arenado) are among many factors for the Dodgers’ improvement in 2017.
For the second consecutive season, the Dodgers also ranked near the top in many pitching categories, including FanGraphs’ WAR (24.3; third in MLB), ERA (3.38; second) and FIP (3.67; second).
The club re-signed Rich Hill during the offseason and acquired Yu Darvish at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline to fortify their starting rotation. Not to mention they received a breakout campaign from Alex Wood, and still have Clayton Kershaw at the top of his game.
Despite the strong staff, Maddon isn’t overly concerned with the quality of arms the Cubs will face in the NLCS.
“They have Mr. Kershaw, obviously and now they have Darvish. Listen, we just went through Strasburg and Scherzer. I mean, that’s no day at the beach, either,” Maddon opined.
“When you get to this time of the year, you really have to be prepared to beat good pitching, which they have.”
