The Dodgers secured an eighth straight National League West Division title as well as the NL's top playoff seed with a 7-2 win over the Oakland A's.
May throws 99 mph. He went viral last month for making San Diego star Manny Machado, an NL most-valuable-player contender, look foolish swinging at an eye-popping two-seam fastball. His numbers, however, don’t exactly match the profile. Pitchers with a repertoire that explosive usually strike out hitters at a high percentage. May doesn’t.
But strikeouts are the optimal result for a pitcher because they remove variables — defense and luck among them — from the equation. And in October, when a bloop single or an error can change the course of a series, strikeouts are gold. The Dodgers believe May, who will play a significant role in the postseason, could improve the output by optimizing his pitch selections with two strikes against right-handed hitters.
On the other side, avoiding strikeouts is a key ingredient for October success. It was a problem that hampered the Dodgers when they struck out 64 times in their five-game NL Division Series loss to the Washington Nationals last season.
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