As I write this the Dodgers are playing their 89th game of the year. Over half the season has been played and folks are still saying the Dodgers aren't for real. The same sentiment is still being echoed, "It's just the National League West." or "That record doesn't matter, they play in the NL Worst (add misc. lols and rofls)."
We'll get started right there. As play began today this is what the National League West looked like.
Team W L GB
Dodgers 56 32 -
Giants 49 39 7.0
Rockies 47 41 9.0
Dbacks 38 51 18.5
Padres 36 52 20.0
The Giants are 7 games behind the Dodgers but would be leading or tied for the lead in ever division in baseball, save for the AL East. The Rockies at the same time are only 2 games behind the Giants. Yeah the Dbacks and Padres are showing how bad teams play baseball but what division has a good team in fourth and fifth place?
Lets look at a few of the stats.
Stat MLB NL
BA 0.275 3rd 1st
OBP 0.354 2nd 1st
SLG 0.413 15th 4th
OPS 0.776 9th 2nd
OPS+ 103 5th 2nd
What does this tell us? The Dodgers can hit, they can take walks but they could use a little more power. What a perfect time for Manny to come back and Matt Kemp to move up the batting order wouldn't you say?
Lets look at pitching next.
Stat MLB NL
ERA 3.51 2nd 2nd
ERA+ 117 2nd 2nd
WHIP 1.274 1st 1st
The pitching of this team has outperformed what many thought it would. Chad Billingsley is showing the whole league what an Ace he can be. At the same time Clayton Kershaw is trying to take that mantle from him. Kershaw started out pretty rocky but his last few starts have been amazing. When he gets his control working right the Billingsley/Kershaw 1-2 punch can match up with just about any rotation in the league.
Right now the Dodgers have winning records against the NL West (30-12), NL East (12-6) and have broken even with the NL Central (5-5). They posted a 9-9 record against the AL in interleague play this year and are looking to take a winning record to the NL Central as they start a four game series with the Houston Astros. After playing 29 series' the Dodgers are 19-6-4.
So here's to hoping the Dodgers go another 24 games over .500 for the second half and cruise in to the playoffs.
So, if they cruise into the playoffs (IF because who knows what could happen and I don't wanna jinx anything), do you think they'll get like the Angels from last year and rest on their laurels, get lazy? Or maybe come out like the Cubs who had the awesome season last year and then got swept? Or will they keep on truckin?
ReplyDeleteI think with all the hungry kids they'll keep trucking. I'm most worried about the pitchers arms falling off though. Kershaw is obviously gonna shatter his season innings record and I believe BIlls is on his way to the same. I'm still suprised Randy Wolf hasn't gone down this season. Kuroda should be good to go but who knows what he's going to bring to the table. But if all four of them are rested and on their games it could be a really awesome October.
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