Subpar performance from four lineup mainstays plus sustained injuries made for a rough middle of the season for LA, who still managed to add to its divisional lead over the last 54 games.
The Dodgers on Tuesday night beat the Reds in their 108th game of the year. That means the regular season is two-thirds complete, and gives us a chance to compare the second third of the season to the first.
While the Dodgers were unquestionably worse in the middle part of the season than in the beginning, there’s still context that is required. Even with playing a very ordinary 54-game stretch, during which they only outscored their foes by six runs, the Dodgers still played at a 90-win pace, a reminder of just how high their bar has been set over the last decade-plus.
It should be noted that at 30-24, the Dodgers had the best record in the National League West during that time, adding two games to their lead over the second-place Padres, 29-27 since May 27.
Let’s now look at the individual players, starting with the catchers, where Will Smith continued his excellent season.
The rest of the position players show where a lot of the difference was between the beginning and middle of the season. Four key contributors were actively bad hitters over the last 54 games, which is a difficult way to win games. Freddie Freeman (.639 OPS, 82 wRC+), Mookie Betts (.622 OPS, 73 wRC+), Teoscar Hernández (.615 OPS, 71 wRC+), and Tommy Edman (.624 OPS, 75 wRC+) were markedly worse in the middle of the season, with the latter two dealing with injuries.
Shohei Ohtani continued his excellent season, though his middle portion of the season at the plate was a drop-off from his first third. Part of that is to be expected considering he’s now pitching again, and is expected to do so even more down the stretch.
Andy Pages is building an excellent season, and Michael Conforto showed improvement. Perhaps the middle-portion team struggles is best shown by the fact that Max Muncy tied for second on the Dodgers in runs batted in despite playing in only half of the last 54 games. Muncy though could be back as early as next week, having started a minor league rehab assignment on Tuesday night.
Now onto the pitchers, with a somewhat loose separation of “starters” and “relievers.”
I grouped pitchers together where I thought they mostly fit, even with a few pitchers in hybrid roles. Wrobleski started only once in his seven appearances in the middle part of the season, but they were all on four or more days rest and he averaged over five innings for the first six of those appearances. Wrobleski is included with the starters here.
Ben Casparius is mixed in with the relievers, because that has been his role for most of the season, with a handful of starts and bulk relief outings mixed in.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Dustin May have been the only constants in the rotation all season to this point, even though May’s performance waned over the last 54 games.
Clayton Kershaw helped provide stability to a rotation that needed it, and the overall production from the starters improved thanks also to Wrobleski and Emmet Sheehan, plus Tyler Glasnow returning. Ohtani has only pitched 12 innings so far, but they’ve been great innings.
It was a rough middle portion of the season for closer Tanner Scott, and Casparius waned as well as the innings leader of this group.
Alex Vesia and Jack Dreyer have been ballasts in a bullpen featuring plenty of turnover, and figures to see more changes this week with Thursday’s trade deadline approaching.
With Glasnow back, Ohtani stretching out to four innings on Wednesday, and Blake Snell set to return Saturday in Tampa Bay, the idea of a stable starting rotation is starting to look more real. If that comes to fruition, better starters will ease the burden on a taxed bullpen, which in theory should improve the relief numbers as well.
The final third of the season starts Wednesday night. The Dodgers have 25 home games and 29 road games the rest of the way. The last 54 games will also feature many more games against the National League West. After playing 26 games against divisional foes over the first two thirds of the season, the Dodgers play 26 games against the NL West over the final third of the season, with two series remaining against each of the other four teams in the division.