Former LA Hitting Coach Points to What Really Hurt LA on Offense

The Dodgers forgot how to hit when it mattered most. It's almost as simple as that. You can't win games when you go a combined five for 34 with runners in scoring position, and that's what the Dodgers did across their four games in the NLDS.

But Mark McGwire, a former Dodger hitting coach who had a few good years as a hitter himself, joined the guys on AM570 to expand upon what really hurt the Dodgers in the postseason.

"Strikeouts, key situations, getting the guys over, putting the ball in play and then you have guys in scoring position," McGwire said. "They were not very good with driving men in scoring position and they had a tough time throughout the year of scoring a lot of runs without hitting home runs. Not that they didn’t do it over 162, but it showed up in the playoffs. And if you’re not hitting home runs, it’s a hard way — especially in the back end of a game and you’re facing the best of the best in their bullpen — it’s hard to get hits, three or four hits in a row to score a couple of runs. It’s really hard to do."

The Dodgers led all of baseball with a +334 scoring differential and an average of 5.17 runs per game in the 2022 regular season. But when it mattered most, untimely strikeouts in big moments turned out to be their demise. 

Sometimes, putting the ball in play is just as good as hitting a home run, because you never know what might happen.

McGwire added that the Astros, who are currently playing in the World Series, were 29th in all of baseball this season in terms of striking out. They know how to put the ball in play, and that's helped them reach the World Series for a third time in four years.

Putting the ball in play and getting hits with runners in scoring position will be two of the biggest areas the Dodgers will need to fix in the offseason.