As long as the Dodgers have Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, no team should want to draw them in the playoffs. By Owen Main

It’s only six games and it’s not even the end of August yet, but the National League stretch run will be set-up by the next two series for both the Dodgers and Giants.

For their part, the Dodgers are in the midst of two series against play two playoff-caliber teams.

First, the Cubs come to town. Joe Maddon’s team has a bevy of young stars and would be in the playoffs if they started today.

After the weekend series against the Cubbies, the Dodgers will host the Giants, who have kind of had their number so far this season.

The Giants, meanwhile, host the National League’s best team — the St. Louis Cardinals — before heading down to Los Angeles for their showdown with the Dodgers. A good effort over the weekend and a series victory could have them even closer to the NL West lead.

By Wednesday night, the Dodgers may have strengthened their 2 1/2 game lead over the Giants or lost it altogether.

Rivals in this division’s close race are starting to play each other head-to-head as the season winds down. It’s unlikely both the Dodgers and Giants will make the playoffs, so games start to mean a little more. I guess what I’m saying is that it might be a good week to pay attention to baseball if you’re a Dodgers or Giants fan.

My prediction: things aren’t actually going to change that much. By Wednesday night, the Dodgers will have a 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 game lead and the stretch run will be as exciting as ever. The baseball season is a long one, but these little stretches are ones to pay close attention to.

Owen is morose over the Dodgers’ loss. Should he update his iPhone? JD takes us through some outdated phrases, how we should replace them, and another episode of “What’s Crappenin?”.

Over a year after the Dodgers’ last World Series appearance, their glorious 1988 championship, the Berlin Wall fell.

The Dodgers have not been in a World Series since the Berlin Wall fell.

— Parker Evans (@parker_d_evans) October 8, 2014

The last time the Dodgers won the World Series, the Berlin Wall still stood.

So, I thought about who hasn’t been in the Series since the Dodgers last made it. When the Dodgers won the 1988 series, Pete Rose was the manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

When Gibson hit his famous home run, Masahiro Tanaka was weeks away from being born and Mike Trout wasn’t even a sparkle in his father’s eye. Trout, in fact, was three years away from being born.

Here is a list of the teams that have not been to the World Series since 1988

* Los Angeles Dodgers

* Seattle Mariners

* Milwaukee Brewers

* Pittsburgh Pirates

* Chicago Cubs

* Baltimore Orioles

* Kansas City Royals

* Washington Nationals

Eight teams, in case you didn’t count. This season, the number is guaranteed to go down by at least one, and maybe two.

There have been four expansion teams since 1988. All have made the World Series and two have won. Everyone in the National League West EXCEPT for the Dodgers have made the Series this century.

I’m not asking anyone to take pity, just trying to contextualize tonight. If I didn’t, I think I might fall into an endless cascade of sorry and self-pity.

I will likely stay off Facebook for the next 24 hours or so to avoid the trollsmanship that’s sure to occur. If you have something to say, go ahead and comment. Pile on, whatever.

Like Chad Moriyama, I’m pretty numb right now. Instead of having a meltdown myself, I’ll just link you to him there.

I’m furious at something. Just not sure where to direct all my fury.

I really hate the Cardinals. They are the devil — the baseball antichrist. They need more street justice enacted upon them than the apparently non-existent baseball Gods will allow.

I also don’t care much for the Giants. Actually, I hate the Cardinals more; have since last year. The Cardinals have been a bigger road block to Dodgers success.

Mike Matheny doesn’t make me happy. His move to stall in the middle of a Juan Uribe at-bat was lauded by some baseball people I respect, but I thought it was clown shoes. I would wish bad karma on him, but he leads the devil magic Cards, so I can’t really wish on him something he’s in charge of…

I hate the bar I went to to watch the Dodgers game last night. It’s near Laguna Lake in SLO and, while there were other Dodger fans there to help drown my sorrows, there were also Giants fans, clapping and cheering. First off, the Giants would MUCH rather play the Dodgers than a hot Cards team, should they make it to the next round. Also, I would love to see a Dodgers-Giants head-to-head NLCS. How much fun would that be?!

Instead, the Giants fan, who works at the bar (but I guess was off-duty throughout the game?) was rooting against the Dodgers. His blind hatred of the Dodgers in this case also had him rooting against baseball. And America.

“Are you a Cardinals fan?” I asked him and his lady-friend, both of them sitting there with their Giants hats on.

After a muttered reply and some banter with another Dodgers fan, he asked “where have you been all year?,” as if to imply that real Dodger fans should have been there all season.

But what would we have been watching Laguna guy? The Dodgers weren’t available on television this year. Not at my house. Not at your restaurant. Not anywhere in SLO County. (That reminds me, I hate Time Warner and pretty much every cable company. I didn’t get to watch the Dodgers this year, and it’s everyone’s fault.)

Your overpriced food is notorious for making its eaters poop like a goose and your staff feigns interest in providing any service. You’re a local place and I like that, but when the new wing place comes in, it’ll be hard for you and your place to stay in business if you continue to have employees heckle customers in their off time. I’m going to try to avoid that place from now on. Bad ju-ju.

Now, just minutes before the Dodgers start their game, I also hate that Yasiel Puig is sitting. Donnie, what are you doing? Puig was responsible for the only run the Dodgers scored last night. Puig was probably the offensive MVP for the Dodgers this year, and we’re benching him after two and a half bad games.

With one game to go, my fury is at an all-time high. It can all be calmed with a victory tonight, though.

People have been posting their stress levels on Twitter lately. I recommend you search it or click here to check it out. Should be a fun time following that throughout the game. Should the Cards score first, I’ll quickly be at Stress Level Trojan:

For what it’s worth, I’ve muttered about how I can’t handle this crap all series long. I have too much stress in my life. As Mike Petriello put it in his post at Dodgers Digest today:

“Thanks, baseball. You suck.”

Happy Game 4 everyone!

In an impromptu conversation from last Friday, Owen and Andy discuss the Divisional round of the playoffs, who a sleeper team could be, and what real chances the Dodgers might have. Hours later, Owen was looking for a bridge to leap from, but in the mean time, here’s a glimmer of optimistic hope for the Dodgers getting to the world series for the first time in over 25 years.

As is often the case when I interview someone in an impromptu, over-the-phone setting, the sound quality leaves something to be desired. Hopefully it’s still listenable — I assure you it’s no more than 20 minutes — and I hope you enjoy it.

Sometimes Twitter- and podcast-contributor, Jesse Pereira, was had an interesting take on the baseball games of Friday night. I asked him to write a post about it, and he did so on Friday night. You can find Jesse’s Twitter account (@mind_butter) here. 

Yasiel Puig’s bat-flipping will set the stage for the tongue-lashing Brandon Belt is sure to get from fans and fellow players, right?. By Owen Main

The Nationals-Giants game was a treat, with all the crucial elements that make postseason baseball, particularly postseason baseball in 2014 — so exciting. Great pitching, clutch late inning heroics, extra inning, and a game winning home run. Brandon Belt not only hit a moonshot into the stands, but dropped a bat flip for the ages.

Tomorrow morning we will surely have to read all the articles decrying Belt’s obvious lack of respect for the game. We’ve been through this before, and the media doesn’t like the bat flip. Just ask Yasiel Puig.

Puig is arguably the most accomplished bat-flipper in Major League Baseball today. This skill has certainly attracted considerable attention from players and spectators alike. Belt will get an earful tonight, from the likes of Madison Bumgarner – a noted critic of Puig’s flipping talent.

Baseball has unwritten rules, and young players like Belt and Puig need to learn respect or be taught it with high heat, benching, whatever it takes to get the lesson across.

Loco was back, so you know things started to spice up…

Enjoy!

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