It’s been a week since the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in the World Series, and a couple of days since Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly blasted the Bombers for their lack of fundamentals and lousy defense/baserunning.
Kelly had said, among other things, that the World Series was a complete mismatch from the go and that the Yankees were the eighth or ninth-best team in the postseason.
Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas didn’t come across as defiant as Kelly, but did double down on his comments and basically said a similar thing while appearing on the “Chris Rose Sports” podcast:
“Their weakness was the way that they make outs on the bases, the way that they didn’t take care of the baseball… lazy defense,” Rojas told Chris Rose.
The Dodgers keep speaking about the Yankees’ shortcomings
Rojas’ analysis was a bit more objective, but still a blow to Yankees fans’ morale and pride. The Yankees did make plenty of errors, of all types, but they weren’t close to being the eighth or ninth-best playoff team. They were much higher and made the World Series for a reason.
They did play sloppy baseball, though, and that’s why they lost to the Dodgers in five games instead of six or seven. They had concrete chances to win an additional game or two, but their mistakes were too costly.
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To be more specific, better execution and minimizing mistakes would have given the Yankees a chance to win Games 1 and 5. It was a series of small details, and in the end, LA did a better job minimizing errors but also capitalizing on those made by the Yankees.
In the end, the Dodgers were the better team, but all they are achieving at this point is poking the bear for next year and beyond.
