These Dodgers aren't the first team to win at least 110 games and come up empty in October

The Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League Baseball's best team during the regular season, were eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday night after losing Game 4 of their National League Division Series to the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers will now begin their offseason having officially won 112 games of consequence this year: 111 of those came during the regular season, and just one during the postseason. 

The Dodgers, then, will not make good on the World Series guarantee made by manager Dave Roberts back in the spring. "We are winning the World Series. Put it on record," he said as part of a radio show appearance.

Who could blame Roberts for his confidence? After all, the Dodgers tied for the fourth-most wins in a single season since 1900. Their plus-334 run differential was more than the best in the majors: it was the best since the 1939 New York Yankees — you know, the Yankees who rostered Joe DiMaggio, Red Rolfe, Joe Gordon, and other recognizable names. 

It's not a stretch to write that the Dodgers were one of the best regular-season teams of all-time. They just won't have a ring or a trophy or a banner to show for it. That's the beauty and the agony of baseball's postseason, isn't it? You can dominate the regular season, then find yourself on the golf course after four measly games. Now, you can argue that the playoffs aren't the best method to crown the top team; you can argue, with every new postseason expansion, that crowning the top team isn't the intent at all: it's about making an unholy amount of blessed American dollars. You'd be right. (You can also argue that the form and the function don't mean a dang thing since the result is a month of exciting, hectic, high-stakes baseball. You'd be right about that, too.)

"Shock factor, very high. Disappointment, very high. It's crushing," Roberts said after Saturday's season-ending loss. "Each guy gave everything they had all year long, and a tremendous season. The great thing about baseball is the unpredictability, and the tough thing about it is the same thing. Things could have gone either way today to impact the result of the game. It didn't. We got beat in a series. Nothing I can say is going to make it feel any better. Obviously we didn't expect to be in this position."