Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman summed it up best following his team’s 2-1 loss to the San Diego Padres in Game-3 of the 2022 National League Division Series at Petco Park on Friday night:

“They’re pitching good right now and we’re not hitting, so we gotta hit tomorrow. That’s going to be my same answer pretty much for everything because that’s the name of the game right now. The last thing is we’re not hitting.“

The last thing indeed.

Through the first three games of the best-of-five series, the Dodgers have scored nine runs on 23 total hits, compared to the Padres 10 runs on 23 hits.

The difference – and it’s a glaring one – is that the Dodgers went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position on Friday night and are now an unacceptable 0-for-21 with runners in scoring position through the first three games of the series, while stranding a combined 23 runners on base; this from the oft-called “best team in all of baseball.” They also have yet to score a single run off of the Padres bullpen.

“I don’t think the mentality changes, (Game-4) is certainly a game that we have to win; win or go home,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts summarized postgame. “We’re going to do everything we can to find to win a baseball game, so, all hands on deck. And the core of this group has been in this position before, and we’re going to approach it like the way it is, it’s win or go home.

“We gotta play better baseball. When we do have opportunities to cash in, we gotta take advantage of them. But as far as run prevention side, I thought we pitched pretty well,” Roberts added; this from the same guy who guaranteed on national radio in April that the Dodgers would win the 2022 World Series.

That’s it. The Dodgers have 27 outs to either send the 2022 NLDS back to Los Angeles for a deciding Game-5.

…or watch the 2022 World Series on TV.

Play Ball.

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