The Dodgers used the words of the late Kobe Bryant as a rallying cry after winning Game 4 to extend their NLDS, but they know eliminating the Padres is just the first of three hurdles as they look to reward their tormented fan base with a World Series title.
The day before the Dodgers’ 2-0 victory Friday in Game 5 of the National League Division Series, they had Kobe Bryant’s quote posted on a screen in their clubhouse: “JOB’S NOT FINISHED.”
You don’t say, guys.
A scowling Bryant delivered that line in 2009 after the Lakers went up 2-0 in the NBA Finals, his commentary reflecting an acute and unflinching desire to win the grand prize, his unwillingness to even consider bending to complacency: “What’s there to be happy about? Job’s not finished.”
The Dodgers were using it as a rallying cry after winning Game 4 to extend their NLDS and force a must-win Game 5. They had to win or they were finished for this season, two rounds shy of the World Series. It was win or let down their tormented fan base for the 11th time in 12 seasons. Obviously the job wasn’t done.
And neither were the Dodgers, it turned out, finished.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto and a parade of fire-breathing relievers – Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia, Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen – kept the formidable Padres off the board, finishing them off with barely a whimper, scoreless in the final 24 innings of their 2024 season.
And at the plate, the Hernandezes – first Kiké and then Teoscar – gave the Dodgers all the offense they needed to advance past the NLDS for the first time since 2021, when they lost to the eventual champion Atlanta Braves in the NLCS, 4-2 … which is to say, they failed to finish the job.
