The Dodgers rotation can’t catch a break

Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s okay, though, we’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each morning, and find the things you need to see from within the SB Nation baseball network, as well as from elsewhere. Please hold your applause until the end, or at least until after you subscribe to the newsletter.

The Dodgers designed their rotation with depth in mind, and even if much of the depth wasn’t the kind you’d want to rely on, there was enough of it — and enough Clayton Kershaw — to get by. While it’s worked to this point, as Los Angeles is in first place and two games up on the Giants after a victory Tuesday, this certainly isn’t the most relaxing route to the playoffs that a team could take. Even as good news started to come in — Rich Hill is set to make his Dodgers debut Wednesday, and Kershaw should be facing hitters soon as he works his way back to the mound — it was coupled with bad.

Brett Anderson and Scott Kazmir were both placed on the disabled list, with Anderson missing time due to a blister and Kazmir dealing with neck inflammation. That makes 27 different Dodgers on the DL in 2016, tying the big-league record, and we’ve still got some time left before expanded 40-man rosters make the DL unnecessary. Hyun-Jin Ryu is on the DL again, this time with an elbow injury, Kershaw hasn’t returned yet, Brandon McCarthy began the year on the DL ... oddly enough, the only primary starter to avoid the disabled list has been Kenta Maeda, whose contract was designed with the anticipation of an injury.

All that being said, the Dodgers do still have some options. You’d prefer not to be using Bud Norris or Ross Stripling, sure, but at least Hill is here now, and even if Kershaw is not at his best when he comes off the DL, he should be an upgrade on some of what the team can throw out there. And they are two games up on the Giants, and could push it to three with a victory on Wednesday in Hill’s debut. So long as the Dodgers can keep a playoff spot for the next six weeks, and they have four major-league starters out of the roughly 900 they’ve used this year by the time October rolls around, they should be in good shape.