The Dodgers are down two games to none, and can only blame themselves.

Baseball managers can sometimes outsmart themselves. Dave Roberts, who has guided the Dodgers to the last three of six consecutive National League West division titles, might have taken analytics a little too seriously in the first two games of the World Series at Fenway Park.

The Red Sox won both that were close until Eduardo Nunez hit a late three-run homer in the opener that sealed the 8-4 win. Nunez, a right-handed batter, was pinch-hitting because Roberts had brought lefty Alex Wood in to pitch. As we know, the lefty-righty, righty-lefty match-ups statistically favor the hitters. But Roberts took that too far in Boston.

Lefties Chris Sale and David Price started the two games for the home team, and Roberts played the odds and loaded the Dodgers lineup with nine right-handed batters. But in doing so, he left his best lefty hitters and top home run producers on the bench until the Red Sox went to their bull pen for righties at least half way through each game.

So southpaw sluggers like Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy got half the at-bats as the men who started the games instead of them. Chances are Bellinger and Muncy would have helped LA get more than eight hits in the first game and only three in the second game. You just can’t leave your best hitters out that long, no matter what the stats suggest.

The World Series resumes tonight in LA with righty Rick Porcello on the mound for the Red Sox, so the Dodgers will have plenty of left handed hitters in the lineup. But they must win two of the three games in their home park to force the series back to Boston for game six Tuesday night.

Problem is, the Red Sox are the best road team in baseball, having won two games at Yankee Stadium and three straight at Minute Maid Park in Houston on the way to the Series. Their starting lineup is packed with hitters from both sides of the plate, with lefty and righty pinch hitters ready in the dugout. So it’s going to be tough for LA to extend the series.

Roberts had platooned like this all season and after a slow start had one of the best records in the Majors over the last 120 games. Now, their top sluggers need as many at-bats as possible at home to have a chance.

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