Alex Rodriguez weighs in on Dodgers postseason loss, reveals World Series pick

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Alex Rodriguez weighed in on the Dodgers’ heartbreaking sweep by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“They’ve turned the tables here the last 10 years and sometimes a fanbase can get spoiled with how good they’ve been,” he explained to Sam Rubin on the KTLA 5 Morning News. “They had a phenomenal year. They’ve had some really tough injuries, especially with the pitchers. But they had a really tough, tough postseason here with Arizona.”

Postseason hopes for the Dodgers came to an on Wednesday night when they were eliminated from the playoffs.

It’s the second year in a row the boys in blue have been eliminated from the division series by a National League West rival and the third consecutive season where they failed to make the world series after reaching the century mark in regular season wins.

Many fans have directed their anger at manager Dave Roberts, but A-Rod doesn’t believe he’s to blame.

“Roberts should be Manager of the Year every year. He does such a phenomenal job,” he exclaimed.

The 14-time All-Star believes it’s the way the league is now.

“The way that baseball is constructed today, (it) is all about the front office, they have all the power,” he said. “It’s not like when I was managed by Joe Torre and Lou Piniella, back in the day. Think about it, the managers used to make $10 million, the GM will make a million. Now it’s reversed. So like they say, baby, follow the money.”

Speaking about the Dodgers front office, Rodriguez also praised Andrew Friedman and thinks the team will come up with a way to move forward.

“I think Friedman is one of the best Top Three baseball people on Earth. But look 10 years, they’ve had a couple of years that have been not great, but they’ve been fairly good,” he continued. “Most teams will take what the Dodgers have done. Friedman will get it together and I think they’re going to do something really really big this offseason.”

“I actually also think they missed Justin Turner’s leadership a tremendous deal. Someone who Dave Roberts leaned on for big at-bats, he hits good pitching. He represented the Dodgers as well as anybody.”

The Dodgers weren’t able to wake up their bats Wednesday night and the Yankees alum said that could be chalked up to the team’s energy taking a hit.

“I think hitting is contagious, and so is pitching. There’s a mojo and I think the Dodgers got hit really hard by the Padres last year, I thought that loss was tougher than this year’s loss,” he explained. “Two years in a row makes it bad. I think they’ve got to get back together this offseason and say,’ Oh, ‘We’re doing things the right way. Where do we adjust to get back to the championship where we had in 2020?’”

The Diamondbacks bats didn’t have that issue as they hammered four home runs in the third inning against Lance Lynn. It even shocked Rodriguez himself.

“We were stunned. We were still going like ‘What’s happening here?’ But here’s what happens, Arizona started to believe that they’re better than they are. And they’re playing at a high level,” he explained. “They were very pedestrian during the year as far as home runs. They’ve turned into the ’27 Yankees. They just keep hitting home runs.”

He also believed having a bye week affected the boys in blue.

“In football and basketball, having the bye week, I think, is a huge asset. I think in baseball, it hurts you because you play 192 days for 200 days,” he said. “That you take a week off, it feels like a month, it feels like six months, and they couldn’t get back together while Arizona was red hot.”

As for who is expected to take it all home when the World Series is said and done, Rodriguez is eyeing Philadelphia.

“It’s hard to go against Philly,” he revealed. “They came up a little short last year. But Bryce Harper, one of the game’s brightest stars. (The) guy had Tommy John (surgery), comes back and he looks like Babe Ruth. I mean he’s hitting balls a country mile and he’s staring at people and making all kinds of signs so it’s good for the game. I like the Phillies.”

After 22 seasons with the league, Rodriguez hung up his glove in 2016. While he remains in the game as an MLB studio analyst with FOX Sports, he does miss his “bats very much.”

Retirement is definitely looking good on him.

He’s gone through a health transformation thanks to his girlfriend, former nurse and now fitness instructor, Jaclyn Cordeiro. He credits her for his recent 35-pound weight loss. He did that by “eating less steak” and going on nightly walks.

While on his recent health journey, he learned he had gum disease during a regular visit with the dentist.

“You notice by just having some bleeding and swollen gums and that’s how I found out and now I get treated, you know, four times a year and I go every three months.”

He treats this with Arestin and now has a partnership with the brand to bring awareness to the issue.

Some may think just brushing and flossing can help the problem, but in some cases, more help is needed. While Rodriguez uses Arestin, he encourages those who suffer from gum disease to consult their dentist for the right treatment.

Looking at Rodriguez’s megawatt smile, you wouldn’t guess he’d have any dental problems. He said that’s the “deceiving part” as gum disease goes “way beyond” a “nice smile” and “clean teeth.”

“More than 30 million Americans have this, men of color, like myself (it’s) even more prevalent. So you’ve got to go out and just be proactive. Ask your doctor, ask tough questions and then get the treatment if you haven’t.”

The 48-year-old seems to be at the top of his game now, which he credits to a “paradigm shift” during the pandemic.

“I was working so hard,” he said before lockdown. “I was flying coast to coast. My health was getting away from me a little bit. I was getting overweight. I wasn’t eating well and wasn’t sleeping right.”

Now in 2023, he has set up some boundaries, which have helped him immensely.

“Now anything before noon is my time. I do my working out, my yoga, my sauna, my meditating, whatever it is, and I’m at the desk at my office in Miami from 12 to six every day. Then I go home.”