SAN DIEGO — A goose on the field, a drone above it, a rainy night in Southern California, the biggest postseason upset in 116 years. Weirdness ruled in this National League Division Series between the Padres and Dodgers. But what might be weirdest of all is how the Padres thoroughly exposed every flaw in a 111-win Dodgers team. It didn’t even look like an upset.
San Diego finished off the series Saturday and advanced to its first NLCS since 1998 by winning its third straight game, each time with its starting pitcher staying in the game longer than the Los Angeles starter. The Dodgers are always in a hurry to get their starting pitcher out of the game, and it burned them in Game 4 when manager Dave Roberts didn’t have enough good arms in his bullpen to make sense of pulling an effective Tyler Anderson after five innings (no runs, two hits, 86 pitches).
The Dodgers walked themselves into a bad situation in which their season was in the hands of Tommy Kahnle and Alex Vesia. Not good, especially not during a season that started with a $310 million payroll. In one inning, a 3–0 lead became a 5–3 deficit and an eventual loss at that score.
