Here are a couple links to columns written about the two NL playoff teams that have joined the Pirates on the sidelines this October. See if anything in them sounds familiar.
[W]hat works in small-market Tampa Bay doesn't necessarily translate to Los Angeles. Coming close is not enough. Expectations here are for championships. Particularly for a team that hasn't won a World Series in 27 painfully long years.
So even with the Dodgers advancing to the playoffs this fall for a record third consecutive year, the season was viewed as a disappointment — in and outside the clubhouse — when the Dodgers fell in the first round.