Skip to main content

Giants, Dodgers set for historic NLDS

If you watched how this season transpired you knew it was only right if the Giants and Dodgers faced each other in the postseason. The teams with the two best records in baseball, that battled for their division neck and neck all year long, will get to truly see who the best in the west is.

Of course both teams will enter the series without their first basemen, both of which were anchors in their lineup. The Giants lost Brandon Belt in the last week of the season to a broken finger and the Dodgers lost their all-star first basemen, Max Muncy on the very last day of the season. However, both these teams won over 100 games this season, and both have the talent to overcome the losses, so there will be no excuses.

The Giants announced Wednesday that Logan Webb will get the ball in game one, and the Dodgers will counter with their young stud, Walker Buehler. In game two the Giants will hand the ball to Kevin Gausman, and that had to be a tough decision for Kapler and the staff. On one hand, yes, Webb has been the team's best arm over the second half and he probably deserves it. However, Gausman has been there before and has been this teams ace the last two seasons. Of course I have the utmost confidence in Logan Webb, this is the guy they're going to build the rotation around into the future and this is a huge vote of confidence for him to get the ball in game one. It's just a matter of controlling your emotion and adrenaline. Like I said, Gausman has started opening days and has thrown in the postseason so he's experienced it. As long as Webb can keep that adrenaline in check, he'll be just fine.

As far as the Dodger hitters, they didn't do a whole lot to impress me in their wild card win over the Cardinals. They have a three guys who've been swinging very well that the Giants will have to be careful with, but they have a lot of guys who are struggling at the plate right now. Justin Turner, Trea Turner and Cory Seager are the three to approach with caution. Mookie Betts is obviously always a threat but he's had an off year. Same with Cody Bellinger. Will Smith has been solid, and performs big in big games, but you can get him out if you stay out of his zone on the inner half, which the Cards neutralized well on Wednesday. 

These two teams have such good starting pitching and great bullpens, it's going to come down to who catches the ball better in the field and who can come up with that clutch hit. The Giants have shown a knack for being able to come up with that hit this year all too often. Whether its guys like Darin Ruf or Lamonte Wade Jr., or Austin Slater of the bench, or Crawford or Posey, they have a number of guys I'm confident in being able to come through. More so than the Dodgers. They may not have a Trea Turner or Mookie Betts in terms of star power, but this team is deep and they know how to get the job done.

Of course I'm picking the Giants to win this series, and not just because this is a Giants Blog and I bleed orange and black. It's because every time I've even thought of doubting this team this season, they've proved me wrong every time. They know how to do the little things to win, they can hit the ball out of the park with anyone, and they pitch the hell out of the ball. Love him or hate him, Gabe Kapler kind of knows what he's doing at the helm as well. There were some moments in year one where he had people questioning his tactics and choices, but he stayed true to his style and has arguably been the best manager in baseball the last two seasons.

We can't get over-confident though. The Dodgers have epic pitching and they were there just a year ago and got it done. They got it done in the Wild Card game when their ace didn't have his best stuff and they couldn't figure out Wainwright. They're a 100+ win team too, and the stars that litter that lineup are superstars for a reason.

I'm most curious to see who gets the ball in a save situation, whether it's Camilo Doval or Jake McGee. However, I feel like the choice to go with Webb tells us that they're going with the hot hand over the veteran. I think that sends a good message and I think that's a great approach. That being said, I think if the heart of the Dodgers order is coming up in the 8th inning it could render that decision moot as it's not really about who gets the ninth these days, it's who gets the teams best hitters in the most crucial situation.

I'll go ahead and pick Giants in five. I think it's crucial to get off to a good start though, especially at home. You have to go into it with the mentality that both your home games are "must-win" games and they have all the bullets in their chamber to treat them as such. As long as they play their game, get good pitching and come up with that timely big hit, that home run with some guys on, and play defense like they can, they're going to "Beat LA".

Comments

KyleG415 said…
I'm so nervous about this series lol, I feel like I'm playing in it. The players have to be juiced, the whole world will be watching and some of the guys like Wade and Ruf can really make a name for themselves. A little worried about the momentum the Dodgers got by winning that game vs. the Cards plus the Giants haven't played in 5 days. This atmosphere is going to be incredible. Can't wait, let's goooo Giants, BEAT LA!!!!!!!!!!

Popular posts from this blog

WORLD SERIES: Giants Move Up 2-0 on Texas

PreGame After taking game one in a surprising slug-fest , the Giants look to go up 2-0 on the Rangers in the World Series on Thursday night. The Giants are sending out Matt Cain, a guy who I'm sure every Giants' fan is pretty confident in. He'll be a opposed by C.J. Wilson, who's in his first year as a full-time starter, but has been brilliant in the role. He did struggle his last time out though, so hopefully the Giants can get to him early and get into his head a bit. I'm going to do something I've never done here on this unique occasion, and sort of do an in-game post. updating this post every time I feel I have something to add. So go Giants, and be sure to check back throughout the game, and after, to vent or whatever! As long as Matt Cain keeps rolling, and the Giants keep coming up with those clutch 2-out hits, we should be OK. Texas has that high-powered offense that can score in a hurry, as we saw last night, so the Giants cannot let down and have to t

Giants Still Need Infield Help

On Saturday, the Giants finalized a 2 year contract extension with Freddy Sanchez, who they acquired in July for Tim Alderson. The new deal for Sanchez will pay him 12 million over the next 2 seasons instead of 8.5 million for just 2010, which was his option for 2010. I've voiced my disappointment in Sanchez a few times here since the Giants dealt for him over the summer. He wasn't able to stay on the field full time to help this club with their run at the NL Wild Card, and even when he was in there, he didn't seem to make much of an impact in th e lineup. Now, I wasn't necessarily hoping the Giants would cut ties with Sanchez (they probably would have had to pay 4 million or so to buy him out), just didn't think he was worth upwards of 10 million dollars, and would have liked to see the Giants pursue someone like Orlando Hudson with that money. The Giants already have an infielder who's being paid about 3-4 times what his play over the last 2 seasons would indi

Giants Notes: Lincecum Signs, Ross to Boston

Well, even though I touched on it a little bit in our last post, I haven't really had a chance to get my thoughts out on the new Lincecum deal since he and the Giants agreed earlier in the week. Also, on the other end of things, the Giants missed out on shoring up their outfield by letting Cody Ross sign in Boston for only $3 million in 2012. First off, obviously, wanted to talk a bit about Lincecum. I've already said here that I didn't expect him to sign a long-term deal that takes him through free agency, but it doesn't mean he wants to leave San Francisco like everyone is suspecting. I mean, if I were Lincecum, I'd probably do the same thing, even if I planned on eventually signing with the Giants long-term. Why take a chance at mitigating your value to just sign a deal? Granted, a 5 year, $100 million deal isn't anything to sneeze at, in this market, if he were a free agent, Lincecum could probably easily command a 8 year, $200 million deal. If he could get