Under normal circumstances, it would be 100 percent understandable that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts would give his best players a day off after clinching the National League West Division for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons; certainly they deserved it. But Wednesday night’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field – they very team against whom the had clinched the division the night before – was not under normal circumstances. It was a Wednesday night game before a scheduled Thursday off day.

Do you see where this is going?

The Dodgers ended up losing the game to the NL West fourth-place D-backs by a score of 5-3 on a walk-off three-run home run given up by Dodgers closer Craig Kimbrel to D-Backs pinch-hitter Sergio Alcántara in the bottom of the 10th inning, with placed runner Ketel Marte on second base, and D-backs left fielder Corbin Carroll on first base, having been walked by Kimbrel on five pitches – all this while Messrs. Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Trea Turner, and Justin Turner watched from the bench.

Do you see where this is going?

As Dodgers fans have (repeatedly) heard Roberts say all season long: “Craig Kimbrel is our closer.”

But what Dodgers fans haven’t heard is the (very) obvious rest of that statement: …even if it kills us.

What did Kimbrel have to say about the 96.1-MPH four-seam fastball that Alcántara launched into the seats in right field?

“Just keep getting my foot down, keep making my pitches. Sometimes, they swing and miss at pitches right down the middle, and sometimes, they hit them out.”

Sergio Alcántara hit it out.

As expected, Roberts yet again defended “our closer” after his fifth blown save in his (thus far) 54 appearances as a Dodger:

“If Craig continues to throw the baseball like he has, I have all the confidence that he’ll finish games for us. But again, that’s contingent on what he’s been doing. He’s been striking the breaking ball and commanding the fastball, and tonight, it just wasn’t there for various reasons.”

Although you will never get Roberts (or anyone else) to ever admit it, “Craig Kimbrel is our closer” because the Dodgers are trying to justify the $16 million they are paying him after trading for him in the deal that sent AJ Pollock to the Chicago White Sox on April 1, 2022 (even if it kills us).

Of course, that ‘placed runner’ thing played a big part in Wednesday’s ugly loss, as well. But even with the placed runner, because of Kimbrel’s five-pitch walk to Carroll ahead of Alcántara’s home run, the D-Backs still would have walked it off at 4-3 instead of 5-3.

“I’m not saying he’s never going to have to deal with a guy on second base,” Roberts further justified. “But to inherit that changes the whole mindset and the landscape of that inning off the get-go.”

Them’s the rules, Dave.

Fortunately for Kimbrel and the Dodgers, they won’t have to deal with the placed runner rule in the postseason, as it is (currently) only being used during the regular season … so there’s that.

Play Ball!

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