Los Angeles Dodgers' Dave Roberts warns of a shifting postseason landscape after a crushing home series loss handed the Milwaukee Brewers a crucial tiebreaker.
Take nothing away from the Milwaukee Brewers, but in no world should the Los Angeles Dodgers have dropped a four-game series to them at home.
Now, the Brewers secured the season series, and that has massive implications down the stretch.
After dropping the series finale, 6-2, manager Dave Roberts spoke about how this loss could've meant much more than all of the other ones this team has gone through in the second half of the season.
It's no secret that the Brewers have the best record in all of baseball, and now they hold a crucial tiebreaker over the Dodgers, meaning the back-to-back World Series Champions are going to have to work harder than ever to take back sole possession of first place.
Roberts on what this loss means to the Dodgers
"Four and a half months of the season, the Brewers have outscored us," he said, according to Dodgers Nation. "It's a team that's young and hungry."
Remember, this is a Dodgers team that swept Milwaukee in last year's National League Championship Series, and Brewers fans still haven't forgotten about 2018 when LA just edged them out in a seven game NLCS.
Roberts continued, "This has been four, five, or six weeks of below-average production from our offense.
"I really wanted to win this game because it could matter, but we didn't so now we have to move forward," he added. "I hope it doesn't come back to bite us."
Dodgers must get back on track
Star reliever Edwin Diaz cost them game one, and then he nearly did the same in game two. Sure, he got the save in that one, but he had to throw 50 pitches over a two-game sample size.
As for the "below-average production" that Roberts was talking about, one can't look past the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, and Kyle Tucker. Combined, those four struck out 13 times against the Brewers and Ohtani provided the lone RBI out of that foursome.
Tucker had a rough go of it in this series, as did Tommy Edman, someone who committed two errors in the series finale. His second cost the team a pair of runs, losing any hope that they could've come back in that game.
After taking two of three in Milwaukee earlier in the year, the Dodgers are stuck playing catch-up. LA managed to lose three of four at home, so now they must pay the price, and it's one that could be costly, and Roberts knows it.
Moving forward, the Dodgers can only focus on themselves, and that begins with a three-game trip to Coors Field that should help get this offense to come back to life.
