Dodgers place both Alex Wood and Cody Bellinger on the 10-day disabled list

The Dodgers, the runaway leaders of the NL West who are now up 20 ¹⁄₂ games over the Rockies, have put both Alex Wood and Cody Bellinger on the disabled list.

For most of the summer, they’ve been near unstoppable day in and day out so while this won’t harm their playoff standings at all it could make them a tad more beatable over the next week-plus.

Both players are headed to the 10-day DL, Wood with shoulder inflammation (technically speaking, inflammation of the sternoclavicular joint) and Bellinger with a right ankle sprain, retroactive to August 20th.

Bellinger didn’t necessarily have to be moved to the disabled list, as with a few days of rest it may have been possible for him to return to the lineup without extended time off, but with the only goal the team’s success in the playoffs right now they can afford to have their home run machine sit out a few games.

Wood missed 11 days at the beginning of June with the same injury and at this point thinks he can return in 11 days this time as well when the Dodgers face off against the Padres.

He told MLB.com,

“It’s milder compared to when I originally did it. If we were three games up, you might try to fight through it. But we want to get it to calm down so I’m good for the last three weeks and into October. I just feel it’s affecting me mechanically, whether it’s consciously or subconsciously and my body is trying to adjust.”

The entire team ethos right now is to look towards October, not the day-to-day wins that they don’t really need. Wood, Bellinger, Darvish and Kershaw might be able to come back a few days ahead of schedule but why push it and risk that they don’t come back healthy?

The Dodgers called up Brock Stewart and Josh Ravin from Triple-A to replace Wood and Bellinger, respectively. Kershaw is throwing a rehab start on Saturday, and Brandon McCarthy is expected to come back after suffering his finger blister soon too.