LOS ANGELES — The past three seasons, the Los Angeles Dodgers spent more than $800 million on salaries and have just one playoff series victory to show for it — the 2013 National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves.
The New York Mets sent them home early again this year, beating them in five games in the NL Division Series despite the Dodgers’ two-headed “monster” (as Mets manager Terry Collins termed it) of Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke.
The large gap between expectations and results could mean another offseason of change in Los Angeles.
“It’s disappointing,” manager Don Mattingly said after the Dodgers dropped Game 5 of the NLDS 3-2 to the Mets on Thursday. “That’s what I told the guys in there. There are really no words to describe how you feel right now. You come to spring training. You worked all winter. You scratch. You fight all year long to get into this situation and you have a chance. It comes to a crash. It doesn’t matter if you expect it or whatever.
“It’s disappointing no matter what the situation is. You work too hard. You put in too many hours.”
Mattingly’s situation is the most precarious of all. His contract runs through 2016, but there has been a growing sense that he needed to guide the Dodgers to their first World Series since 1988 or he would be fired by an overhauled front office that did not hire him.
The roster could change significantly as well. After a season that might earn him his second Cy Young Award, Greinke is expected to exercise an opt-out clause in his contract and become a free agent. Second baseman Howie Kendrick is also a free agent, among others.
First baseman Adrian Gonzalez was asked after the Game 5 loss if he felt confident this team could get over the hump next year.
“If this is the exact same team next year, yeah,” he said. “But I doubt it’s going to be the exact same team.”