by Cary Osborne
The Dodgers are 19–10, tied for first place in the National League West and tied for the second-best record in the Major Leagues.
Despite an 8–0 start to this season, it seems nothing has been easy.
The Dodgers lead the Majors in comeback wins with 12 — the latest being Monday night’s walk-off victory against the Marlins.
Tommy Edman’s two-run single in the 10th inning gave the Dodgers a 7–6 victory.
“I feel like we played against a lot of scrappy teams,” Edman said Monday night. “We got up 5–0, and then they scrapped together that five-run inning. You got to fight for everyone. It’s not easy to get winning games and in the Major Leagues. … But we’ve done a good job, even though we’ve made some games close, but we’ve done a good job of pulling out a lot of wins.”
The Dodgers are 10–3 against sub-.500 teams this year. The run differential in those games is +17 or an average of 1.3 runs per game.
The Dodgers have played 11 one-run games. That’s a pace of 61 one-run games this season. They played 38 one-run games last season.
They have been involved in five walk-off games. They didn’t have a walk-off game until game №32 of the 2024 season.
“I was talking to coaches earlier tonight, it just seems like we’re a .500 team just kind of given what’s going on,” said manager Dave Roberts. “But I think we’re a game behind the best record of National League, and so it doesn’t feel like that. But I think that’s a good thing as far as there’s no complacency with our ball club, all the stuff that we’ve gone through with kind of the inconsistencies with the offense, with some hiccups sometimes with the defense, with the injuries — and still be where we’re at. And so I think that that’s a bad sign for the rest of the league.”
The Dodgers lead baseball with 46 home runs and rank fourth in slugging. But they’re middle of the road in offensive statistics such as average (16th), on-base percentage (13th). They’re 13th in team ERA (3.82) and 16th in WHIP (1.29). Blake Snell and now Tyler Glasnow are on the injured list. The Dodgers lead the Majors in bullpen innings.
They’ve had 19 games this season where they have used at least five pitchers in a game and eight times they’ve used at least six pitchers — both Major League highs.
Roberts acknowledged before Monday’s game that bullpen usage thus far is a concern.
Through different parts of the early season, some of the big bats have slumped.
Yet, here they are, one game behind the New York Mets for the best record in the Major Leagues.
The Dodgers have a lot of wins, including a lot of stressful wins was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.