I can read news articles just as well as the rest of you, and I know what we’re seeing: “No Reason to Worry about the Dodgers.”
And, before you get annoyed and close this article, I partially agree. The pitching staff has been ravaged by injuries once again, and multiple valuable position players have also spent some time on the IL. The only time the Dodgers were at full strength was those first few weeks – where we started 8-0, mind you.
And this is a fully valid argument! Just take a look at some of the players that have been on the IL in July: Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, Roki Sasaki, Max Muncy, Hyeseong Kim, Tony Gonsolin, Brusdar Graterol, Michael Kopech, Kiké Hernández, and Blake Snell, to name a few. Let me be clear: these are only people who we’re expecting back sometime this season; there’s an entire starting lineup (and Evan Philips) out for the year.
However, as I frequently do in life, it is time I play a little devil’s advocate. Here are all the reasons we really should be worried about the Dodgers.
Reason number one: injuries. Everyone – be it people in the organization, beat writers, or fans on social media – has made it clear that the Dodgers would have had almost no issues had they not suffered from consistent and repeated injuries to star players. While this is true, this isn’t an excuse for the future. If players have spent the past five months being moved to the IL, there is absolutely no reason to believe that trend will simply end as October rolls around. I don’t wish ill on any player or staff member, but it is simply irrational to think that the injuries will cease to exist once the more important games pop up on the schedule. Obviously, the return of those aforementioned IL inhabitants will vastly improve the team, but even the most optimistic fan knows injuries can happen at any time to anybody.
Reason the second: current performance. Putting aside the injuries for a moment, take note of the Dodgers’ lineup this month: Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández, Will Smith, Andy Pages, Tommy Edman, and some combination of Michael Conforto, Hyeseong Kim, Miguel Rojas, James Outman, Dalton Rushing, and Esteury Ruiz. Please, find a team in the majors with a better lineup in July. This group should, theoretically, be able to out-hit any opponent in the other dugout. If my counting abilities are working, they have scored 91 runs this month, with an average of 3.79 runs per game. The Rockies, Marlins, Athletics, and White Sox all have higher run per game averages. Is anyone concerned yet?
The final reason: schedule. Take a quick peek at the upcoming schedule for your Los Angeles Dodgers. Starting in August with the Cardinals, LA follows with the white hot Blue Jays, who had the highest runs per game average of any MLB team in July at 5.77. Then come the Angels, whom we struggled against earlier this year. To finish the month, we play two series against the Padres, and one against each of the Rockies, Reds, and D-Backs. The Padres essentially traded for a whole new team on deadline day, Elly and Cincinnati gave us a small scare a few weeks ago, and the D-Backs are still capable of putting up a fight any day. No comment on Colorado.
If you’ve made it down here, I thank you. As Dodgers fans, we would like to think that there is absolutely no reason to worry about the team, but if you ever need one, I’ve just provided three.
