Dodgers Team News

Dodgers News: Fans Not Sold On Team’s Division Title Chances

This is going to shock almost none of you, but there are plenty of fans out there who are not convinced that the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to win their fourth straight division title.

In a poll done by Houston Mitchell of the Los Angeles Times, 55.3 percent of voters said that the Dodgers would not finish in first place in the NL West in the 2016 season.



That wasn’t all, though. Mitchell received some comments from Dodgers fans who were not exactly sold on the team’s upcoming campaign.


ICYMI: Dodgers Still The Class Of NL West, per ESPN


From Houston Mitchell of the Los Angeles Times in his latest Dodgers Dugout article:

Bryan Denny: Let’s not forget when comparing where last year’s team finished in the standings to what this year’s team might do, to take into consideration what Arizona and San Francisco did to upgrade their lineups and pitching. I see the Dodgers either third or fourth place. Fans used to be able to count as many as 18 to 20 victories out of Greinke. Where are those wins going to come from now?

To be fair, Mr. Denny is not wrong. Zack Greinke averaged 17 wins per season in his three seasons with the Dodgers. However, as it always has to be noted, pitcher wins are one of the most overrated statistical commodities out there in the sport of baseball.

Pitchers can certainly help you win games, but they’re not the sole reason you win games. Essentially, teams win games. The Dodgers went 64-28 in the 92 games Greinke started as a member of the Dodgers. That’s a .696 winning percentage. While not close to as astronomical, the Dodgers had a .625 winning percentage in games Hyun-jin Ryu started in 2013 and 2014.

Basically, the Dodgers had the makings of a 113-win team in games Greinke pitched, but were a 101-win team when Ryu pitched. Obviously not all things are as cut and dry, but teams win games. And we’re not saying Ryu is equal to Greinke or anything like that. But the loss of one great starting pitcher when you have an even better one – Clayton Kershaw – on hand is not the end of the world.

Fans are certainly allowed to feel how they want to feel, though. In fact, that’s what makes them fans. If there’s one thing that we can guarantee for 2016, it’s that fans are quite unsure of what to expect. Some are certain nothing will change in the division, but a slight majority feels that the trend has shifted. We’ll just have to sit back and watch it unfold.

Dodgers News: Betting Odds From Bovada Have Dodgers 5th

 

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9 Comments

  1. For those who have not studied Kenta Maeda’s numbers in Japan, I would recommend doing so. Maeda and a refreshed and renewed Hyun Jin Ryu will give us a stronger overall rotation than we could claim last year. I would be a great fool not to mourn the loss of Zack Greinke, but try counting all the young strong arms knocking at the door: Jose DeLeon, Julio Urias, Yadier Alvarez, Yaisel Sierra, Cotten Jharel, Frankie Montas, Grant Holmes. Think the Mets rotation, only with greater depth of superb young arms. Michael Larrain, Cotati, CA.

  2. It’s not the starting pitcher that isn’t consistent. It’s the hitting and relief pitching. I like overall look of the rotation. It’s 5 above average starters. But the dodgers need to score more runs, they need more consistency and youth in their line up. Crawford, Ethier, Utley, Gonzo, Ellis..a bunch of old guys. Gonzo is the only one still producing.

  3. The offense was not very good and the bull-pen needs a lot of help. The ‘maybe’ if so and so does this and so and so does that doesn’t give us fans have any confidence in the current front office. A 3rd place finish is what most of us DO expect.

  4. Ethier didn’t produce? .852 OPS and 136 OPS+, apparently you don’t know much about baseball.

  5. I completely agree. Ryu, Maeda, and Kazmir should be able to win as many or more games than Grienke, and the 4th and 5th starters from last year (Bols, Frias, Latos, Wood, etc). I expect Kershaw to win a few more than he did last year, and Anderson should win the same amount or more, especially considering that he goes from the 3rd starter to the 5th. Also can’t wait to see some of those young arms in spring.

  6. Jagman63 

    Every team
    has their maybe’s.Giants – maybe Pence
    returns to health and performs as he did in 2014.Maybe Belt comes fully back from concussion
    conditions.Maybe Samardzija gets his
    ERA below 4.00 at AT&T. Maybe Cueto’s elbow holds out all year.Maybe Cain fully returns.Maybe the Giants find a true closer.DBacks – maybe Greinke has another 19-3 1.66
    ERA year.Maybe Corbin finds the promise
    he once had.Maybe Archie Bradley
    pitches enough so that Robby Ray or Rubby De La Rosa don’t have to.Maybe Tomas makes everybody forget about
    Enciarte.Maybe Goldschmidt improves to
    be better than Harper in 2016.Maybe
    Owings, Ahmed, and Lamb will actually learn how to hit.Maybe Castillo catches Greinke better than
    Grandal.
    There is no
    logical reason that the DBackshave made
    up the 13 games on the Dodgers.It’s
    also not clearly evident that the Giants have made up the 8 games.Maybe they have, maybe not.  Maybe your Dodger maybes are more plausible than my Giants or DBacks maybes.  But not all Dodger fans believe that the
    Dodgers have fallen behind two teams in the NL West.  I doubt that most DO expect that.  Some of us are so naïve that we do not
    believe that they have fallen behind either team.

  7. AlwaysCompete Jagman63  The front office that you are so in love with made another typical signing today. Signing Kendrick AFTER they wasted 7 million on washed up and useless Utely. Oh I know. You think he is a valuable addition to the team. Yeah right. His stats last year show it don’t they….. While I like Kendrick his addition does not make the team younger as Friedman and co. earlier claimed was their goal. I think the front office throws darts at the wall to determine their next move. Maybe, if, in case….. What a way to build a ball club.

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