"This is not a controversial statement, but the rule changed about the sticky substances, and that changed the Dodgers team," he told 95.7 The Game on Tuesday. "They’re still good, still really really good, but Walker Buehler can no longer throw a fastball one after another by the Giants. Julio Urias can no longer blow the Giants away with pure stuff. It changed those guys, it did. That, to me, changed this season. And the Dodgers have been impacted by that more than anybody, if you check out all the numbers, they have been."
The "sticky substance" rule change happened June 21 and sought to combat pitchers using foreign substances on the mound in an attempt to increase spin rate.