Well that Spring Training went by quickly, didn’t it? Granted, the Los Angeles Dodgers started early than all teams other than the San Diego Padres, their Korean series opponents, but the Arizona part of Spring Training flew by.
It might’ve been the most anticipated Spring Training ever for the Dodgers. It’s not often that a team makes two monster signings and an impressive trade all in one off-season. Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler Glasnow all headline a revamped Dodger team.
The Dodgers will start the season by playing two games against the Padres in Korea that count, then head home and face the Los Angeles Angels for three games of exhibition ball before the rest of the season starts.
Glasnow and Yamamoto will be the two starting pitchers for the Korean series, and look to be the one-two starters for stateside Opening Day also. Glasnow has looked fantastic this spring, where his health and his pitching seem pretty close to 100%. Yamamoto has struggled a little in his spring outings, but can be expected as he adjusted to the ball and atmosphere in MLB.
James Paxton, Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone will follow those two in the starting rotation. (As an aside, Paxton is totally going to be my ‘totally forget he was on the team’ guy this season). Stone was informed a few days ago in Korea that he will be the fifth starter, and he deserves it. Over 13 inning pitched this spring, Stone has allowed only one run and three walks while striking out 17. His fast ball is sitting upper 90’s and the change is just as nasty 10 mph slower.
Gavin Lux is fully healthy this season, returning from his ACL injury last spring training. But his defense had been subpar. Early on, it was announced that Mookie Betts would be the full time second baseman. That changed halfway through Spring Training with the poor defense of Lux at shortstop. Lux keeps himself in the lineup with his bat but the infield defense will be the biggest thing to keep an eye on as the season progresses.
The Dodgers offense as a whole has looked good so far in Korea, where the Boys in Blue won both of their exhibition games against the Kiwoom Heroes and the Korean National Team. It could be a different story when they face the Padres on Wednesday.
San Diego will counter the Dodgers starters with Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove. Trying to keep up with the Dodgers, the Padres recently made a splash of their own. Dylan Cease was acquired via trade just two short weeks ago, although not in time to make the team plane to Korea.
Around the NL West, the San Francisco Giants are also adding to their team in their hopes for postseason play. Monday, they signed Cy Young winner Blake Snell to a 2-year deal. L.A. will continue to have to face a pitcher who has had their number in recent years.
I’m not going to make any prediction about this season save one. The team will win more games because of the guys not dubbed the superstars. Late key at bats, defensive substitutions, and guys stepping up in the bullpen.
This season is going to be a heck of a lot of fun to watch. The o my bad thing going in is that the first two games are at 3am PST. Looking forward to enjoying this team all summer long.