The Dodgers falling short was something we should’ve seen coming

When the Dodgers took a gamble on Yu Darvish, we should have seen this coming.

At the trade deadline, literally moments before it came to a close, the Los Angeles Dodgers made a deal with the Texas Rangers and in that moment may have burned their World Series hopes in the process.

Things were going great for the Dodgers, which continued at least in the regular season as they won over 100 games. Then, in the playoffs, it took nine games for them to get to the World Series before reaching their match against Houston.

They had a chance to go up 2-0 in the series, but failed to capitalize when they just needed one more good inning. However, they didn’t get it done.

Yu Darvish, in particular, stood out as part of the Dodgers’ problem, especially in Game 7. He gave up five total runs over just 1.2 innings of work in the game that the Dodgers needed him most in.

Los Angeles picked up Darvish when he had an ERA of 4.01 and it’s that number that doomed them against Houston in the do-or-die winner-take-all scenario that they found themselves in. Also, 2017 was the year where Darvish gave up the most hits of his pitching career (159). His previous season high came in his rookie season with Texas back in 2012 (156).

The bottom line is that the Dodgers trusted in fool’s gold, and that being more specifically the fact that Darvish wouldn’t be able to save them in clutch moments. Through the rest of the game, the Dodgers didn’t allow a single run.

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Darvish is now an unrestricted free agent, and it would be wise for Los Angeles to seriously think about re-signing him. They are one of the favorites for the 2018 World Series, but might face similar peril if they don’t go with what the right move for the organization really is.