Imrem: Dodgers seem intent on getting past Chicago Cubs
Sorry to keep bringing it up, but 1988 continues to hover over the National League championship series between the Cubs and Dodgers.
That was the last time Los Angeles won a World Series, and its team this season is looking more and more like its team that year.
I had the pleasure of covering all the Dodgers' home games in the '88 playoffs and the entire World Series.
Most memorable was that the longer that postseason proceeded, the more the Dodgers baffled the experts.
The last thing the Cubs want to hear now is that the current Dodgers are on a similar postseason trajectory.
However, it's clear after Tuesday night's Game 3 of the NLCS — a 6-0 victory at L.A. — that the Dodgers will test the Cubs' resolve and resilience.
“For me,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said, “it's just throw (this one) in the wastebasket and come back tomorrow. I won't get so dramatic about it.”
The Cubs haven't been in a pressurized situation pretty much all season but right now the Dodgers lead the series 2-1.
The result is that Anthony Rizzo is leading a lineup of Cubs into a hitting abyss. The Dodgers knocked out Jake Arrieta one batter into the sixth inning of Game 3. Every move Maddon tries proves futile.
“We just have to hit the ball better,” Maddon said.
Opposing managers were making similar remarks about the Dodgers in 1988.
Back then the Dodgers had no chance against the Mets in the NLCS and beat them. Then they had no chance against the A's in the World Series and beat them.
That Dodgers team was a phenomenon that somehow just kept finding a way to win games behind Orel Hershiser's pitching mastery and Kirk Gibson's magical World Series home run.
Through it all, Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda hugged his players while convincing them that they were better than they were.
That was then and this is now.
These Dodgers have no chance against the Cubs with Rizzo, Kris Bryant, baseball's best starting pitching and a historically good defense.
Just as in the National League division series, the opposition simply doesn't match up against the Cubs.
In the NLDS, the Giants had two players who could have started for the Cubs. The Dodgers might not have that many.
The Dodgers' batting order is comprised of a bunch of anonymous players to fans east of the Mississippi.
The Dodgers' first run in Game 3 was scored by somebody named Andrew Toles, whose trading card might be blank on the back.
Two innings later, the Dodgers' lead bulged to 3-0 when somebody named Yasmani Grandal hit a 2-run homer off Arrieta.
“I'll probably make that pitch nine out of 10 times and be all right with it,” Arrieta said.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts isn't nearly as flamboyant as Lasorda was — not many sports figures are — but after an injury-riddled season he has his team believing it can win any game.
“We feel very confident,” Roberts said.
The Dodgers manager isn't above tweaking the Cubs' championship drought the way Lasorda might have.
“Obviously,” Roberts said, “there is a lot of history that they're kind of dealing with and fighting and trying to overcome.”
No, the Dodgers have no chance to beat the Cubs.
Except, I know better after spending time around those 1988 Dodgers.
mimrem@dailyherald.com