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.
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".
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