How October ends could have big ramifications for Dodgers’ future after two straight World Series losses

In front of an electric crowd at Chavez Ravine in the afternoon of Nov. 1, 2017, the Dodgers stood one win away from capturing their first World Series since 1988. All 54,124 fans were on their feet as Game 7 was about to begin. But in a flash, the dream turned into a nightmare for the Dodgers. They went quietly into the night, and the Houston Astros took home their first-ever World Series, celebrating on LA’s field. 

“We’ve just got to regroup,” said Dodgers’ Manager Dave Roberts in the postgame press conference. “I like our guys, I believe in our team and I expect us to be in the same position next year.”

Nearly exactly a year later, the Dodgers made another run to win the NL West division title, survived a grueling seven-game series in the National League Championship Series with the Milwaukee Brewers and made it back to the World Series — this time facing the Boston Red Sox. After several questionable managing decisions by Roberts, the Dodgers blew a four-run lead in Game 4, and ultimately lost the World Series again, this time in a quick five-game series. 

“We’ve just got to go back out there, and I expect us to be back here next year, but celebrating on the field,” Roberts said after the Game 5 loss at Dodger Stadium. “I don’t think we played our best but part of it, a lot of it, is you’ve got to give credit to the opponent. And we have a lot of time to think about this one. But, again, spring is going to be around the corner.”

For many teams, especially in a sport like baseball, the window for opportunity to win a championship is very small. Typically for teams that make it to back-to-back World Series, that next season spells the beginning of a sharp decline. It is rare for a team in the Major Leagues to hold success for an extended period of time without faltering. That is what makes this Dodgers team so interesting.

For seven straight years, including 2019, the Dodgers have won the National League West Division, and the majority of those wins came in a very comfortable fashion. It is the third-longest division-winning streak of all time, and with every new division title, the pressure builds even higher on the team to finally bring home a world championship for their fans who have waited for 31 years. Over the past six postseasons, the Dodgers have lost in the NLDS, NLCS and World Series twice each in that span. 

A mix of veterans and homegrown talent have passed through the Dodgers organization during this run. Big names like Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez, Manny Machado and Yu Darvish all donned a Dodger uniform, but what has really helped put LA over the top is its eye for the lesser-known players with potential. Players like Chris Taylor, Max Muncy, Justin Turner and Enrique (Kiké) Hernandez were almost out of the majors, but once they arrived in LA, they became instant contributors. When the big names are not performing, players like these are there to pick up the slack. 

Another huge part of this LA run has been the team’s reluctance to part ways with young prospects for major names. In the past years, they have been linked to ace pitcher Chris Sale, the late Jose Fernandez, JT Realmuto and many other big names across the majors. But the Dodgers have refused to forfeit valuable prospects. The players that opposing teams wanted in return for those stars included now starting shortstop Corey Seager, starting left fielder Joc Pederson, lefty pitcher Julio Urias and 2019 NL MVP candidate Cody Bellinger — all of whom are an enormous contributors to the Dodgers’ success. 

Just 10 years ago, the Dodgers had a chance to acquire Hall of Famer Roy Halladay to help them in their 2009 run. But LA refused to give up a young pitcher in its system. That player was Clayton Kershaw, who has since become one of the greatest pitchers the game has ever seen. 

This year, when the opportunity came to trade for Pirates’ all-star reliever Felipe Vasquez and help out the struggling bullpen, the Dodgers and General Manager Andrew Friedman let it go because they did not want to let go of two highly-rated prospects Dustin May and Gavin Lux. Since then, both players have been called up and have contributed in every facet of the game. They ended the 2019 regular season as the NL’s best team, and as of Aug. 6, according to MLB.com, they had the third-best farm system in the league —  a key indication that the Dodgers may contend for years to come. 

While their eye for talent and building a great farm system have helped them maintain success, the Dodgers still haven’t achieved their primary goal, which is to win a championship. These past two World Series losses have left a mark on the Dodgers, and those still on the team know the dark cloud of pressure that keeps building after each postseason failure. For many teams, especially a relatively young one like the Dodgers, the two losses would lead to absolute ruin. But while losing still hurts, starting third baseman Justin Turner has the mentality that keeps this team going. 

“When you get that close two years in a row, it borderline drives you insane,” Turner told the Los Angeles Times in February. “You’re just psychotic about trying to finish it. So the drive is even greater than it was last year. Do we believe we’re a good team? Absolutely. Every guy in here, to a man, thinks we’re a really, really good team, and have a chance to do something special. At the same time, that doesn’t count for a run. You don’t score runs because you’re supposed to be good. You still have to figure out ways to score runs and throw strikes and play defense. That’s what we have to do.”

As we enter another MLB postseason, the Dodgers will play for the same thing that they have been so close to attaining the past two years. If they do win it all this year, it could be the beginning of a potential dynasty. The youth, the front office and the manager are in place for the long run, and a World Series win would certainly take some of that pressure off their backs. 

But another World Series loss and this team will have to look at themselves in a similar way to the 90s Buffalo Bills, Utah Jazz and 2010-2011 Texas Rangers. A postseason loss would likely result in big changes for the Dodgers, and some that they might not even want.

As much as making the World Series may not be a failure in many of their eyes, this Dodgers team has the potential to go down as one of the best sports teams ever that couldn’t get it done. And for a big market team like them, they may not be able to live it down and survive the pressure of three straight losses. 

All eyes are on LA this October.  A Fall Classic result will have the City of Angels feeling like a dream come true, or a nightmare they cannot awake from.

Written by: Omar Navarro — sports@theaggie.org

UC Davis suffers 45-20 home defeat in Big Sky opener 

The UC Davis football team suffered its worst defeat of the season in Saturday’s Big Sky opener, falling to the visiting Montana Grizzlies by a final score of 45-20.

It was a stunning blow to the Aggies, a top-5 FCS team in many rankings polls, especially after last week’s hard-fought loss to the defending national champions.

The postgame mood in the home locker room wasn’t one of panic or anger, but rather pure disappointment and frustration due to the opportunities left on the table and numerous sloppy, uncharacteristic mistakes.

In his postgame press conference, UC Davis Head Coach Dan Hawkins explained that losses like this are par for the course along the journey of an ascending program and for a team still learning how to sustain success.

“Hardly ever, when you first learn how to fly a kite, do you just get it up in the air and it just goes the whole time,” Hawkins said. “You’ve got to lose a kite in the electrical lines or trees before you figure out exactly what you’re supposed to be doing.”

“It’s probably the first time in my two and a half years here that I felt like we got out-coached, out-energy-ed, out-executed and out-desired,” Hawkins admitted.

While the team is playing this season under the weight of increased expectations, every Aggie opponent also has added incentive to put forth their best effort and knock off last year’s conference champions.

“It’s interesting for these guys to understand wearing the target on your back,” Hawkins said. “When you go win the championship, every team and every staff that plays you will go research the heck out of you, figure out how to stop you and study your film. They’re gearing up for you.”

UC Davis simply could not get anything going on offense for all four quarters and found itself constantly playing catch-up, trailing by as many as 31 points early in the third quarter.

The Aggie defense was significantly overmatched for much of the afternoon as well, failing to get off the field on third downs and missing an alarming number of tackles in the open field. Every time it seemed like UC Davis had a chance to get a defensive stop and swing the momentum, Montana rose to the occasion and made meaningful plays to move the chains. 

A particularly damaging breakdown in coverage on the third play of the second half led to a breakaway 62-yard touchdown for the Grizzlies and opened the floodgates for a nightmarish third quarter.

“I think it really came down to tackling,” said junior defensive back Erron Duncan. “[Montana’s] quarterback did a great job of creating on the run. Even with their running backs, they were pounding us and we couldn’t tackle. We were in the position the majority of the plays to stop the run for a minimal gain and we just couldn’t make the plays.”

UC Davis was severely gashed by a relentless Grizzly rushing attack that totaled 260 yards on the ground and averaged an even six yards per carry. Montana quarterback Dalton Sneed used his legs to escape the pocket and take off running on many occasions. With many one-on-one coverages downfield, Aggie defensive backs had to choose between covering their assignments or crashing toward the scrambling Sneed, who ran for 81 yards on 10 attempts.

“He made us look silly in the open field at times and was able to beat us around the edge,” Hawkins said. “You could really sense his competitive fire and you’ve got to admire that. He struggled a little bit last year against us so I give him a lot of credit for coming back and playing like he did.”

Montana seemed to suck the life out of the Aggie defense on a few lengthy scoring drives that took significant chunks of time off the clock. The Grizzlies were content to play a dink-and-dunk style of offense at times, patiently grinding out short gains on the ground and slowly wearing out UC Davis, while always coming up with the right play design to keep drives alive on third down.

UC Davis coaches and players constantly stress the importance of winning the turnover battle, but Saturday’s game could not have strayed further from the plan as the visitors prevailed in that department by a tally of 3-1. A pair of Aggie turnovers, both lost fumbles, in the opening minutes of the third quarter gifted Montana two easy touchdown drives, which essentially put the game out of reach with still over 23 minutes left in the contest.

UC Davis was fortunate to even get on the scoreboard in the first half, taking advantage of a “roughing the kicker” penalty on junior punter Daniel Whelan that extended a mid-second quarter drive. Sophomore wide receiver Carson Crawford scored on a 3-yard touchdown reception that made it 14-7 at the time, the smallest deficit the Aggies would face for the remainder of the afternoon.

The Aggies went into the locker room at halftime having amassed just 148 yards of total offense, the lowest of any half this season. UC Davis started out cold with four consecutive punts and an interception. In addition to a stout Montana defense, the Aggies were halted by a pair of key penalties that negated lengthy pass completions to senior tight end Wes Preece and sophomore running back Ulonzo Gilliam Jr.

UC Davis was never able to establish the running game, averaging just 1.9 yards per rush, and was forced to abandon it in favor of a pass-heavy attack when Montana started to pull away in the third quarter.

The Aggie offense was not helped by unfavorable starting field position on almost every single offensive drive of the afternoon. Of the team’s 12 possessions, Davis only began past its own 26-yard line two times and was backed up inside its own 10-yard line three times. UC Davis Quarterback Jake Maier and the rest of the offense were faced with the daunting task of trying to piece together drives of 80+ yards and, as a result, were unsuccessful the majority of the time.

“When everything goes well and you score 50 points in a win, everyone tells you how great you are,” Maier explained. “When stuff like this happens, you’ve got to own it because you own the 50 points and the wins. We’ve got to be more disciplined. We keep turning the ball over and getting penalties in big situations. Regardless of what happens in these games, we can’t do this to ourselves.”

Maier was able to complete 74% of his passes and threw for a trio of touchdowns, but a pair of costly turnovers prevented him from leading the offense to more points and gave Montana prime field position to extend the lead.

On the team’s first possession of the third quarter, Maier was stumbling backwards in the face of heavy pressure and mistakenly dropped the ball on his own while losing his balance. A Montana lineman easily scooped up the loose football at the 14-yard line and the Grizzlies found the end zone on the very next play.

Maier was forced to operate without star junior wide receiver Jared Harrell, who exited early with an injury, but found success with fellow junior wide receiver Khris Vaughn who hauled in a pair of touchdowns to go along with a team-leading 57 receiving yards.

Maier moved into second place in school history with his 69^th career touchdown pass, a 17-yard strike to Vaughn early in the fourth quarter. Other than that, it was a forgettable afternoon at the office for the signal caller, but he did not shy away from taking responsibility for the ugly performance.

“This is 100% on me,” Maier said. “I’m a leader of this team and where I go, this team goes. Whatever we’ve got to do to prepare better, practice better and make sure we’re executing, that falls on me ultimately.”

There’s no doubt that this loss is a negative blow to the Aggies’ playoff aspirations, due to the lopsided nature of the final score and the fact that the game was being nationally televised on Root Sports. Of course, UC Davis has seven more games to redeem itself and right the ship, but there are no cupcakes on the upcoming schedule. 

Nonetheless, Saturday’s blowout provides added motivation for the players to correct their mistakes and come back stronger.

The Aggies will have to hop on a flight back to North Dakota at the end of the week and prepare for a battle with the North Dakota Fighting Hawks in Grand Forks. The game kicks off at 11 a.m. and can be streamed on ESPN3.

UC Davis will return home to UC Davis Health Stadium on Oct. 12 for Homecoming weekend and the Battle for the Golden Horseshoe against Cal Poly.

Written by: Brendan Ogburn — sports@theaggie.org