The Best Team Money Can Buy: The Los Angeles Dodgers' Wild Struggle to Build a Baseball Powerhouse

by Molly Knight

  It stayed that way for ten more innings.

  Greinke went eight full frames, giving up two runs and striking out ten. He became the first pitcher to strike out double-digit Cardinal hitters in a playoff game since 1944—an extraordinary feat considering St. Louis had participated in more postseason games in the last sixty-nine years than any other team in the National League. In his two playoff appearances with the Dodgers so far, Greinke had given the club fourteen innings while surrendering just four runs, debunking any lingering concerns about his anxiety disorder.

  With the contest tied at two in the eighth, Adrian Gonzalez led off with a walk. Because Gonzalez represented the potential winning run and also possessed the slowest feet of any Dodger player, Mattingly opted to have the speedy Dee Gordon run for him and substituted Gonzalez out of the game. It was a questionable move: Ramirez had struck out to end the previous inning, and the shortstop was in obvious pain. Removing Gonzalez from a tie game meant that if the contest went to extra innings, the Dodgers’ lineup would be without its cleanup hitter on an evening when its number-three hitter could hardly swing a bat. Gordon was fast, but the Cardinals’ catcher, Yadier Molina, was the toughest backstop to run on in the league. While it was possible that Gordon could successfully steal second off him, Mattingly didn’t send him, which all but negated the value of subbing him for Gonzalez.

  Some Dodger players could not believe Gonzalez was being removed from a tie game. It didn’t help their frustration when Gordon was erased a batter later after Puig grounded into a fielder’s choice. Mattingly put Michael Young into the game for Gonzalez at first base, and it was clear he was quickly becoming the skipper’s favorite bat off the bench. The Dodgers had claimed the veteran Young off waivers from the Phillies in late August, and he had fit in well with his teammates right away. Young had never won a championship during his fourteen seasons in the big leagues, though he did finish as a runner-up on the Texas Rangers team that had their hearts broken by these Cardinals in the 2011 World Series. Texas had been one strike away in back-to-back innings from its first-ever title in Game 6, only to lose to furious comebacks by St. Louis.

  Young was dealt to Philadelphia before the 2013 season. As he was nearing the end of his career, the thirty-six-year-old infielder told the Phillies he didn’t want to be traded again. But when the Dodgers gauged his interest, the situation was too good to pass up. Young had been born and raised in Los Angeles County, and grew up a Dodger fan. What could be better than winning a ring with his hometown team? Beating the Cardinals to do it, perhaps. Heading into the series with St. Louis, Young was perhaps the most outwardly animated Dodger; he sent many inspirational expletive-laden messages to a group-text chain of eight or so teammates in hopes of firing them up.

  Batting in Gonzalez’s spot, Young got his chance to be the hero in the top of the tenth inning. After Carl Crawford flied out to right, Mark Ellis tripled, becoming the first Dodger to make it to third base since the third inning. The Cardinals then walked Ramirez intentionally again to set up a potential double play but also because whether he was injured or not, they didn’t want any part of him. With one out and runners on first and third, all Young had to do to give Los Angeles a lead was hit a fly ball deep enough to score Ellis. With that in mind, he got under a pitch from Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal—who was in his second inning of work—and drove it to right field. Carlos Beltran caught the ball, and Ellis broke toward home. Dodgers third-base coach Tim Wallach knew Beltran had a strong arm in right, but he also knew that Puig, who was due up next, had failed to hit the ball out of the infield in four earlier attempts that night, so this might be the Dodgers’ best chance to score. Ellis sprinted for home. Beltran threw him out by an eyelash.

  Young got another chance in the top of the twelfth. Crawford led off the inning with a single and Ellis bunted him over to second. The sacrifice opened up a free base to put Ramirez on at first, which is what the Cardinals did, avoiding the Dodgers’ best hitter again. With runners at first and second and one out, Young grounded into a double play. Then in the bottom of the thirteenth, Beltran singled home the winning run. The Cardinals took a 1–0 series lead.

  ‘That was probably one that got away,” Mattingly said afterward. And who knows how it would have turned out had Gonzalez remained in the lineup? Gonzalez led the Dodgers in runs batted in, which usually didn’t say much about a hitter, except that in Gonzalez’s case it did because he was much better at hitting with runners on base than with nobody on. Batting in his place, Young had stranded four runners. That hurt. But what hurt worse was the sight of Hanley Ramirez sitting at his locker after the game, doubled over his knees with his forehead resting in his hands. For almost ten minutes, he did not move or speak. This was not good: as Ramirez went, so went the Dodgers. They had suffered countless calamities during this crazy season and they had survived. After everything they had overcome, would their dream year end on a hit-by-pitch? No one knew whether Ramirez would play again. And no one knew whether Puig would start hitting. The only certain thing was Kershaw. He got the ball for Game 2.

  • • •

  The day began with Ramirez penciled in the Dodgers lineup. But minutes before Game 2 started, the ailing shortstop was scratched. Though X-rays came back negative, he was unable to swing a bat because of the pain in his side. The training staff offered to give him a Toradol injection, but Ramirez was terrified of needles. A powerful anti-inflammatory painkiller, Toradol had a reputation for keeping broken athletes on the field when there was no time to rest. Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo—who often dealt with rib and back fractures—had relied on a weekly shot of the drug to save his career. During Game 3 of the NLDS, Carl Crawford had crashed into the stands to catch a foul ball and landed on his shoulder with his feet over his head. He received a shot after the game. The following day, he homered in his first two at-bats. Afterward, when he was asked about the pain he laughed and said he didn’t feel much of anything.

  Ramirez did not win any friends in the locker room by nixing the painkilling shot. He was the best hitter on the team and the Dodgers’ offense had gone limp without him; the same hitters who hung thirteen runs on the Braves in a playoff game had failed to score one run in the previous ten innings. Whether it was fair to expect Ramirez to swing a bat through pain, this was the playoffs, and it was difficult to imagine champions like Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, or Michael Jordan asking out of a postseason lineup unless they were facing limb amputation. Dodger players weren’t happy with Ethier, either. After he said he couldn’t go in Game 2 because his shin hurt, his replacement in center field, Skip Schumaker, took him aside and chewed him out. When Ramirez was scratched, the club still believed his rib was merely bruised. A later MRI would show a hairline fracture.

  Opposing Kershaw was Michael Wacha, a twenty-two-year-old rookie with a nifty changeup who had made just nine regular-season starts in the major leagues. Wacha stood on the mound and wiggled his limbs to stretch all six foot six of himself with a detached calmness, as if he had no idea he was pitching the biggest game of his life. What he lacked in experience he made up for in confidence. During his final start of the regular season, he came within one out of no-hitting the Nationals. In his next start, in Game 4 of the NLDS versus the Pirates, he saved the Cardinals from elimination by pitching seven-and-a-third innings of one-run ball, striking out nine. Still, no one thought Wacha would best Kershaw, except maybe Wacha himself.

  Wacha flummoxed Dodger hitters from the start. Figuring Kershaw would throw him a first-pitch fastball, the Cardinals’ leadoff hitter, Matt Carpenter, ambushed him by swinging hard at his first offering of the game. He tripled. But Kershaw stranded Carpenter at third by not allowing the next three St. Louis batters to hit the ball out of the infield. He retired the side in order in the second, third, and fourth, too. The pitcher’s duel was on.

  Wacha was just as dominant. He set Los Angeles down in order in the second, third, and fourth; the Dodgers had managed to hit only a few l
azy fly balls. When Puig struck out for the second time to end the fourth inning, it was clear Yadier Molina was in his head. Molina had been playing Puig like a marionette in the series. When Puig looked for a ball up, Molina called for one down. When Puig looked outside, Molina went in. The Cardinals’ catcher had company in Puig’s psyche. The drug cartel that helped smuggle Puig to the United States was always around and asking for more money. It was unclear how much they would need to be paid to go away forever, but those close to Puig felt the extortion might never end. What could he do? If he didn’t pay them what they wanted, they threatened to kill him and his family. His mother worried constantly. Opposing fans hated Puig for being a cocky, rich punk—but in reality he was nearly broke. Puig had signed a seven-year contract worth $42 million in the summer of 2012, and received $12 million up front as a bonus. After taxes, most of that money had gone toward paying off the people who had orchestrated his escape from Cuba, as well as agents, lawyers, and managers. Plus he was being sued by one of the men he defected with.

  And then there were the new friends who were ripping him off. One of them asked to borrow his Lincoln, and Puig said sure, because he always did. Unbeknownst to Puig, his friend took the car to get expensive work done to it to make it flashier, then slapped Puig with the bill. Puig may have been naïve but he wasn’t stupid: the figure sounded too high. His security team got rid of the friend after that. Puig’s financial troubles were not uncommon among young ballplayers. But his recklessness, and the fact that he went from an unknown kid to a superstar overnight in the country’s second-biggest market, amplified the tension. Everyone wanted a piece of him. It weighed on all he did.

  The Cardinals scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth off a double, a passed ball, and a sacrifice fly to take a 1–0 lead. Kershaw led off the top of the sixth with a single to left and clapped toward the dugout after he reached first base. Crawford followed with a ground ball that took forever to skid into the glove of Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter. Because he had to rush to catch the speedy Crawford at first, Carpenter chucked the ball into a camera well. Kershaw took third and Crawford trotted over to second. With nobody out, runners at second and third, and the meat of the Dodgers’ order coming up, it looked as if the club might score its first run in its last sixteen playoff innings. Some in the Cardinals organization noted that the Dodgers had an advantage going into the series because Mark McGwire, the club’s former hitting coach, was intimately acquainted with the strengths and weaknesses of St. Louis hitters. But McGwire’s intel didn’t matter if the Dodgers couldn’t score. Through the first nineteen innings of the NLCS, L.A.’s potent offense had managed just two runs. “Two and a half billion dollars,” a team executive said later. “And two fucking runs.”

  The Cardinals drew their infield toward the grass for a possible play at the plate. Mark Ellis stepped into the box just needing to hit a fly ball deep enough for Kershaw to tag up and tie the game. He took a ball from Wacha, then popped up the second pitch he saw to Carpenter. One out. Adrian Gonzalez was up next. With one out and first base open, Molina called for Wacha to issue the first intentional walk of his career, loading the bases for Puig. Although the Dodgers’ right fielder had pummeled Atlanta pitching in the Divisional Series, going 8-for-17 and accounting for more runs (5) than strikeouts (4), the Championship Series had been a disaster for him. Puig had gone a miserable 0-for-6 in Game 1, leaving a game-high seven runners on base. He had struck out in his first two at-bats in Game 2. But with the bases loaded and the Dodgers down 1–0, the young Cuban could give his club the lead and change the momentum of the series with one swing.

  Wacha surprised Puig with a first-pitch 95 mph fastball down the middle of the plate. Puig was late and swung through it so violently that he fell down to one knee. Wacha threw another fastball that nicked the bottom of the zone for a called strike two. Puig thought that pitch was low, and he turned around and glared at home-plate umpire Mark Carlson. The crowd got even louder. Puig took the next pitch, and the next and the next to work the count full. With the bases loaded and nowhere to put Puig, Wacha threw a fastball in the dirt. Puig started to swing, then tried to stop himself. It was too late. He struck out with a feeble stab at the ball, then began the slow walk back to the dugout with his head down. He descended the steps past Mattingly, turned right down the tunnel that led to the batting cages, collapsed against the wall, and sobbed. His new translator, Roman Barinas, found him huddled against the wall just as Michael Young passed him on his way back to the dugout from the indoor batting cages. Young, who had been preparing to pinch-hit if necessary, leaned in to console Puig. “It’s not over yet, we need you,” Young said. Barinas translated. “You’re gonna get another chance.” The Dodgers trailed by only a run but it didn’t matter. Puig had come to St. Louis to show the people who wanted to see him fail that he could lead the Dodgers to the World Series. And now he was humiliated.

  While this was going on, Uribe came up to bat with the bases loaded and two out. He struck out. Puig dried his tears and jogged back out to his position in right. The next nine Dodger hitters went down in order, save for a Nick Punto single. Puig struck out looking in the ninth. Kershaw had been brilliant again, allowing two hits and no earned runs in six innings. Desperate to generate offense, Mattingly had pulled him for a pinch hitter in the top of the seventh after he’d thrown just seventy-two pitches. Kershaw removed his cap and stood alone with his hands on his hips and watched as Young hit for him. He flied out to end the inning. In nineteen playoff innings in 2013, Kershaw had given up one earned run. Despite managing only two hits in Game 2, the Cardinals won to take a commanding 2–0 NLCS lead. The series headed back to Los Angeles for Games 3, 4, and 5.

  If the Dodgers could win at least two of those games, the clubs would be forced to return to St. Louis for Games 6 and 7. But after the brutal Game 2 loss, even pushing the series to five games seemed like a tall order. The Dodgers had already burned Greinke and Kershaw, while St. Louis had held on to its ace. In Game 3, Hyun-Jin Ryu would face off against the superb Adam Wainwright, the only pitcher in the National League who had thrown more innings than Kershaw that season. After Game 2, Hanley Ramirez sat quietly at his locker with his shirt off and two large bandages covering his left side. A large contingent of media gathered around Puig’s locker, waiting for him to appear from the showers. Of the sixty or so people in the room, the only person making any noise was Matt Kemp, who was riding around on a scooter chirping “meep meep.” Puig emerged ten minutes later to face reporters with wet, red eyes.

  • • •

  If Don Mattingly was worried about being fired, at least he knew he had one powerful ally in his corner. Before Game 3 in Los Angeles, Mark Walter and his daughter, Samantha, approached him on the field during batting practice at Dodger Stadium and threw their arms around him. If the front office wanted to get rid of Mattingly, they would have to come up with reasons compelling enough to trump Walter’s obvious affection for the man. Though he valued the opinion of others in the organization, Walter was the self-described decider-in-chief. He would ultimately make the call.

  Hyun-Jin Ryu had played it safe against Atlanta in the NLDS, and his conservative approach led to his removal after three innings. He arrived at Dodger Stadium before Game 3 of the NLCS vowing not to make the same mistake. Rather than conserve energy so he could stick in the game longer, Ryu signaled the sense of urgency the entire team felt by pumping a 95 mph fastball to Carlos Beltran in the first inning. It was the hardest pitch he’d thrown all season. Ryu cruised through the first four innings and did not give up a hit until the fifth. The life on his fastball caught the Cardinals flat-footed; in the seven innings Ryu pitched, St. Louis was able to muster only three singles and a walk. Nobody made it to third base.

  As Cardinal bats remained cold, Dodger bats heated up. Ramirez returned to the lineup without the Toradol injection, and it sparked the club. Despite his broken rib, the shortstop singled in the first, hit a fly ball
deep enough to advance Mark Ellis to third in his next at-bat, and beat out an infield single that plated a run in the eighth. Puig snapped out of his funk, too. After striking out looking in the second inning, he tripled in a run in the fourth. When the ball left his bat he assumed he had hit it out of the park, so he flipped his bat, raised his arms in celebration, and stopped to watch it fly. Upon realizing it bounced short of the fence and remained in play, Puig sprinted to third and celebrated again. This did not sit well with those who thought he was a hot dog. Puig didn’t care. He had been mortified to tears during the previous game and probably would have executed a front flip on third base now if it had occurred to him. Brian Wilson and Kenley Jansen closed out Ryu’s gem, and the Dodgers took Game 3 to crawl back into the series, besting Adam Wainwright 3–0.