Dodgers: Breaking Down LA’s Road to A 9th Straight Division Title
Following a sweep of the Atlanta Braves, the Dodgers are tied with the San Francisco Giants for first place in the NL West. After spending the summer chasing the Giants, the Dodgers are much more in control of their own fate. Now, the Dodgers can focus on the task at hand – winning each series in September.
Dodgers September Schedule
First up, is the aforementioned Giants, in San Francisco. The trip to the Bay kicks off thirteen games in a row for the Dodgers. Normally that might be cause for concern, but with the team rolling, a slew of games is just what the doctor ordered. It’s unwise to try to stop a freight train at high speed.
Los Angeles has six series against teams with winnings records in September. They also have nine games against the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks. Both moribund teams should be deploying lineups littered with AAA talent. Los Angeles can’t sleepwalk through those series, but it will be a respite from the desperate Reds, Padres, and Cardinals – three teams battling for the last Wild Card spot.
The Milwaukee Brewers serve as the Bowser to the Dodgers Mario – the final opponent. The last regular season series in early October between the two figures to be full of playoff implications.
Final Thoughts
The Dodgers were 21-6 in August and enter Friday’s tilt having won 20 of their last 25. All of that success is despite Mookie Betts missing two weeks. Some could also argue that Cody Bellinger’s bat is only present in the literal sense these days. Not to mention, Justin Turner, Chris Taylor, and Max Muncy all hit below .230 for the month.
All of those variables resulted in the powerful Dodgers offense finishing a pedestrian 15th in OPS in August (.744). They still tied the Tampa Bay Rays for best winning percentage in August (.778).
As long as Urias, Buehler, and Scherzer continue to anchor the rotation, the Dodgers should be favored in every series left on their schedule.
It’s no easy task, but this team has all of the talent and experience to win a ninth straight division title.
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This absolutely must be a series sweep. If we don’t win every game this weekend, we are screwed.
Well what makes this series so important is that Dodgers DO NOT want to end up in that one and done WC game. I sure hope MLB will make changes to this WC format next year. A whole hard working 162 game season that was very successful could possibly come down to that 1 game and perhaps the better team gets ent home.
Like I said Paul, we must sweep them this weekend.
We have a month of baseball to go. This series is not make or break. But we need to play it like it is. And already DR is handicapping us. In the opener Pollack is sitting and Bellinger is playing. Why? The Giants are putting RHP DeSclafani on the mound. Pollack is hitting 298 against RHP, and 292 against LHP. This is virtually no difference, with a slight favorable edge towards hitting RHP. This manufactured platoon to get Bellinger in the lineup doesn’t reflect reality. It makes no sense. If you want to win, put your best guys on the field.
Amen brother…..
Spot on!
Will Smith cost the Dodgers that game.Hate to say it, he has won so many but he choked in crucial AB’s then couldn’t judge a high throw from Turner who made a dazzling back hand stab of posey’s hit. Just move on to today seems to be how the Dodgers planned this series from the beginning. The way they set it up, using their top 3 pitchers to get past the Braves and having NOTHING for this first Giants game. If anyone thought we were going to win that game the way Roberts plans things, they haven’t been watching him all these years.
no its not necessary to win all 3 games. we don’t need a 3 game lead. win the series and we will win the West
The person who has this series/season in their hand is Dave Roberts.
His management of his players for the rest of the season is on him, not the players…. Many of his moves are very questionable. Hopefully he will sit back and let his all star lineup do what they are paid to do.
Simple as that….. If he over manages, we are in trouble.
If he overmanages? What makes you think that won’t happen? He kept it up last night.
Now that a sweep against the Giants is out of the question…let’s focus on winning this series one game at a time. Tonight, our offense needs to strike early (no sitting hot bats out or keeping cold ones in), hopefully Urias brings his ” A” game, and Roberts uses the bullpen wisely knowing which reliever to bring out and when. We can regain momentum by capitalizing off of a slowing down Giants team and its bullpen. But whether the Dodgers take this series or not, as pointed out, we have a month left of baseball; we just need to play smart ball for the duration. Go Dodgers!
The late innings failure to drive in Dodgers on base allowed the Giants to stay in the game. While I would have preferred to see Bellinger switched to first for 10th and 11th innings, Robert’s also new we needed speed and defense against extra base hits. I am confident we can win the series and leave SF with the Division lead. Perhaps the next ball hit into “the Ocean” will be off Trea Turner’s bat, a fitting redemption for an errant throw. Keep the faith, Dodger Nation!!