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I did player panic ratings for the Dodgers before the NLDS, so I figured why not do them for the NLCS too?
See, while fans go nuts at players during the regular season, they absolutely lose sanity during the postseason. I understand that, because there’s more at stake, but sane people let it go after they calm down, while insane people let it dictate their perception of the player forever.
The creation of the player panic ratings was inspired by those insane people. It was made to speculate on which players Dodger fans will overreact to for the rest of their lives.
Remember, sample size is for nerds, so who lacks the guts, heart, and grit to execute that one pitch or one play?! Who will have their career defined by a four to seven game sample?!
Let’s be honest, it’s more thrilling than the games at times.
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Yasiel Puig is still at a 10, but instead of an off-the-charts 10, it’s more like a normal 10. The reason being that I actually saw people starting to come around on the fact that he wasn’t this gigantic dipshit that costs the Dodgers three runs a game. Of course, the downside is that it took him having an OPS above 1.000 to get them to come around, and people were STILL blaming him for losing Game 4 because he played a double into a triple, a run that likely would have scored anyway. Says it all.
Kenley Jansen goes up because Jonathan Broxton was great in the NLDS too, it’s the NLCS blown save that makes fans hate him. So Jansen is still well within career hate territory, and it’s only going to get worse.
Zack Greinke goes up as well, because the bigger the stage the dumber people get about stuff like anxiety disorder without actually trying to understand what makes them uncomfortable. I don’t know his condition exactly, but from my experience, I would bet he feels more uncomfortable in celebration scrums and high-fiving fans around the park than being on the mound in the playoffs. Also, who cares if the Cardinals DESTROY right-handed pitching, if he bombs it’s because he’s NUTS.
Clayton Kershaw is up for similar reasons as Greinke. Bigger stage, so the ace has to be Orel Hershiser or people are gonna start questioning him. Before Juan Uribe went yard to win Game 4, fans were already criticizing Kershaw for his performance (two unearned runs, lol) and why he wasn’t going deeper in the game.
Ricky Nolasco, I would hate to be you. Struggling in September and skipped in the NLDS, nobody has confidence in you, and if he bombs in the NLCS the claws are gonna come out something awful.
Paco Rodriguez has struggled down the stretch as well, and after he gave up a bases loaded single to Jason Heyward in Game 2, basically all confidence was lost and his excellent season was reduced to his current miserable state. Calls for Brandon League over him were coming in after Game 3, put it that way.
Hyun Jin Ryu is on this chart because he gave the worst performance out of all the starters in the NLDS, but that was ignored because the Dodger offense exploded in Game 3. If he pitches poorly again and they lose, I doubt people will be so forgiving. Personally, I still think he’s not 100% and that’s part of the reason, but I doubt fans will care.
Adrian Gonzalez was set to be the goat in Game 4. If Puig made the type of game-changing errors A-Gon did, the announcers would be all over him. But he’s A-Gon so no matter what he does people will rally behind him, and that’s the only reason I can say he’s this low.
Hanley Ramirez strikes me as difficult to blame at this point because he’s been so ridiculous for the team all year, though I suppose that might be why fans could freak out if he has a poor NLCS, but I doubt it would be anything but temporary.
Juan Uribe could probably pick the Cardinals to win the NLCS in four games and fans would laugh it off at this point.
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Update
I’m replacing Paco with Ronald Belisario in light of recent roster moves. Belisario is about equally on the verge of being victimized by fans in a drive-by tweeting of pure hatred. Also, I have to add Carlos Marmol somewhere around a 7-8, no? I think fans expect him to fail, so that will blunt some of it … but not all of it if he does implode.
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Don Mattingly is always at a 10, especially because inexperienced manager/first postseason/what he did in the NLDS.
Now go panic your way into an institution … again.