It is a saying as old as the game of baseball itself and ranks right up there with: “Walks kill you.” That saying, or formula, if you will, is: “LOB = Loss.” LOB is, of course, the official scoring vernacular for Left on Base.

On Tuesday evening in front of a ‘spirited’ Dodger Stadium sellout crowd of 52,692 and against the one team they could most ill-afford to leave runners on base, the hated Houston Astros, the Dodgers left 10 runners on base in what ended up being a 3-0 shutout loss to the team that cheated them – literally – out of the 2017 World Series championship.

What’s worse, and you had to know this was coming, the Dodgers went an unacceptable 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

“I just think that each isolated at-bat that we had runners in scoring position, there were a couple pitches I thought that we’d love to have back, and that’s the game of baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts answered when asked about his team’s missed opportunities with runners on base and in scoring position. “They’re going to try to make pitches and beat you, and we’re going to try to get hits. So, I think it’s just more of going to go out there … we’ve got (Jake) Odorizzi tomorrow; we’re excited to see Max (Scherzer) make his Dodger debut; I know we’ll be focused on winning a ballgame and just take good at-bats. Because I know Max is going to go out there and compete and bring energy, and I know our guys are going to be there ready to support. So, put that together and to win a ballgame.”

Any way you slice it, the brutally painful – and seemingly all-too-familiar – bottom line is that LOB = Loss – period.

Play Ball!

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