I never understood why they chose to rest their team in 96 and not care about winning the division, and being fine settling for the wild card. Then they got murked by the Braves, when the Cardinals would've been an easier matchup. Dumb.
That pissed me off, and then in '97 that Brian Johnson HR knocked them out.....I thought they had a legit shot that year.
I put none of those clubs falling short on Piazza, in the big scheme. And the Dodgers didn't recover for years after trading him.