"In those buoyant days of spring, Dodgers fans blithely predicted their star-studded and well-financed team would win, say, 125 games. No major league team had won more than 116 but, if the Dodgers were going to ruin baseball, they would have a damn good time doing it. Then the season started, and with it the ups and downs, and the injuries and the inconsistencies. The Dodgers won the National League West, of course, but with what they would consider a very modest 93 wins."
"Ohtani, the defending most valuable player and the presumed repeat winner, had one hit in 18 at-bats in the division series. He struck out nine times. He scored a franchise-record and league-leading 146 runs this season, just about one every game. In the four games of the division series, he neither hit a home run or scored a run. "He didn't do much this series," Smith said. "I expect next series for him to come out and hit like five homers. That's just who he is.""
Dodgers expectations began extremely high, with fans predicting as many as 125 wins, but the season brought injuries, inconsistencies and a final regular-season total of 93 wins. The team finished strongly, winning five of its final six series, sweeping the Reds in the wild-card round and beating the Phillies in four games in the division series. The Dodgers have gone 20-6 over five weeks, a .769 pace equivalent to 125 wins, and have lost just once in six postseason games. Despite the surge, internal voices express doubt about full offensive cohesion, noting Shohei Ohtani's division-series struggles and room for improvement.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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