The Dodgers are seemingly unstoppable right now, and not just because they’ve won 11 games in a row. On June 6, the Dodgers dropped their third straight game, which lost them a series to the Nationals — Washington improved to an NL-best 37-20 with the victory. Fast-forward to today, though, and you’ve got the Dodgers at 66-29 thanks to a 31-4 stretch that now has them nine games ahead of the Nats in the win column instead of two games back.
The Dodgers have won 11 in a row and 31 of 35
Thursday’s Say Hey, Baseball includes the Dodgers’ ridiculous run, the latest trade rumors, and Nolan Arenado’s huge game.
Photo by David Banks/Getty Images
31-4! Thirty-one wins against four losses in their last 35 games. As you can imagine, everything has been clicking for Los Angeles: Rookie sensation Cody Bellinger has hit 14 homers and slugged .714 during those 35 games. Cory Seager has hit .352/.431/.657. Justin Turner has arguably been better than both of them, posting a .364/.481/.692 line, while Joc Pederson, Yasiel Puig, and Chris Taylor have also dominated at the plate, with the lowest OPS from that trio in this stretch Taylor’s 853. The team as a whole has batted .273/.367/.527 with 149 extra-base hits, and they’ve been especially cruel to left-handed opponents (.304/.398/.617).
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The starting pitchers, as a unit, have recorded a 2.59 ERA and struck out nearly 10 batters per nine innings during these 35 games and 205 frames. Here’s a fun comparison: In 2012, Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw started 33 games, threw 227 innings, and recorded a 2.53 ERA with just over nine strikeouts per nine innings. The entire rotation is pitching like a version of Kershaw that finished second for the NL Cy Young. No wonder they’ve outscored opponents by 100 runs in these 35 games.
By the way, the Nationals, who have the second-best record in the NL, have outscored their opponents by 107 runs for the season.
The Dodgers aren’t this good, of course. If they were, they’d win 125 games, blowing away the record of 116 currently held by the 2001 Mariners and 1906 Cubs. You don’t need to be this good in order to be the class of your league, however, so when the bats slow down a bit and the pitching starts to give up a few more runs, they’ll be a little more stoppable than they currently are. Whether that will be enough to actually stop them remains to be seen.
- The Yankees got what they wanted. The White Sox got what they wanted. Good trade, everyone! Oh, you want some details? Well, Grant Brisbee has them for you.
- Raimel Tapia is good at this whole defense thing, and he reminded everyone of that on Wednesday with this spectacular grab that required he run up the hill in center field in Albuquerque.
- You’re not really starting your day off with this trade rumor roundup if you didn’t begin reading this column right here, but let’s just pretend that turn of phrase works here.
- Kris Bryant slid into third base on an attempted steal and was removed from the game with what ended up being a sprained pinky.
- Bryant was not alone in scaring his team with a hand injury, either, as brand new Diamondbacks’ slugger J.D Martinez was hit on the hand with a pitch and removed from his first game with the team.
- The White Sox have the prospects they needed to get for their rebuild, and now here comes the hard part: surrounding them with free agents.
- The Mets prefer to trade Curtis Granderson over Jay Bruce, as they’re considering giving Bruce the qualifying offer this winter.
- Whether he’s dealt or not, Granderson has said he’s “made peace” with the possibility of retiring.
- Keith Hernandez talked to a young a fan about braces and also might have scarred her for life in the process.
- Giancarlo Stanton is not very happy with the Marlins losing to the Phillies... again.
- Nolan Arenado had a three-homer, five-hit day during the Rockies’ rout of the Padres.
- Marco Estrada to the Royals? It’s another rumor we try to make sense of for you.
- The Giants might be signing Pablo Sandoval to a minor-league deal now that the Red Sox have released him.
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