Hated Dodgers slugger has NSFW response to experts fueling LA's comeback vs Padres

Most of what San Diego Padres fans will remember about this year's NLDS against the Dodgers was all of the drama between the two teams and the Padres' offense no-showing for the final two games. The games in LA had the Padres and Dodgers getting into it with fans throwing things on the field, and it appeared as though it could be a series for the ages. Unfortunately, San Diego fell flat at the end and now fans are wondering what should have been.

However, there was a lot of chatter before that series that the Padres were very well-positioned to take down the Dodgers. A lot of experts were picking San Diego to win the series or, at minimum, give LA a lot of problems and with good reason.

On paper, the Padres should have been a very tough matchup and that is kind of how things played out, at least for the first three games.

Dodgers slugger Max Muncy clearly heard all of those predictions and he and the team apparently used that perceived disrespect to help fuel LA's playoff series win while also saying a bad word or two along the way.

Max Muncy's comments on Padres support from experts were kind of cringe, but also understandable

Just to be clear, if the roles were flipped, there would be a lot of Padres chirping about folks betting against them as well. Anytime there is bulletin board material from either the other team or from a notable third party, players can carry that around as a chip on their shoulder. Heck, we saw how Dodgers manager Dave Roberts manufactured drama with Manny Machado towards that same end. Hat tip to LA for finding motivation to get the job done when throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at their problems looked like it could come up short.

That said, Muncy taking aim at experts for making perfectly sane predictions in favor of the Padres is a bit weird. The Dodgers have ben ravaged by injuries, especially to their pitching staff, while San Diego was one of MLB's hottest and most complete teams in the second half of the season. Picking San Diego to win that series was not disrespectful and no one was arguing that the Dodgers didn't belong on the same field.

At the end of the day, Muncy provided a more clear-headed explanation on Foul Territory where he said that it did tick the Dodgers off to see all the Padres love and frankly, it should have. Finding sources of motivation and energy is often a great thing and helps with the mental battle that playoff series often come down to. Unfortunately for the Padres, it was a mental battle that LA ultimately won this time.

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