Let's not pussyfoot around it: Stephen Strasburg cost us the postseason. His two shitty starts in the series absolutely buried us. He put us in an impossible situation, and gave us no chance to win. The guy has been good (not great) for us for a long time, but he really shit the bed yesterday. He put us in a 8-1 hole after only four innings in Game Two, and then coughed up four first-inning runs in Game Six.
But let's not let Max Scherzer off the hook, either. We paid $15.5 million for him in January, with the expectation that he would put our pitching staff over the top. We envisioned a rotation with four legitimate aces, and assumed that would be extremely difficult to beat in the postseason -- especially in a season where offense is so out of control. Mad Max made one start in the Division Series and coughed up five runs in only six innings. He was grossly out-pitched by Brandon Woodruff, who earns a minimum-wage salary.
There is plenty of blame to throw around. Jose Ramirez went 1-for-21 (.048) in the series, and committed three crucial errors in six games. Tom Murphy hit a pair of homers, but went just 3-for-18 in the series, and committed two errors himself. Shohei Ohtani and Carlos Puello went 0-for-11, combined.
It was just a disastrous series all around. A true team "effort." And now we turn to 2021.
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