The Dodgers are going to be just fine. I just thought you should know that before we get into the gory details of what losing four games in a row for the first time in 2017 means for the best team in baseball in 2017. They’re still going to win the NL West, they’re still going to lay claim to home field advantage up until the World Series, all of their great players are still stupidly young and talented and probably not going anywhere for some time.
The Dodgers lost 4 in a row and are off the record pace
Thursday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at the Dodgers’ first real rough stretch of 2017, Joey Gallo’s attempt at weird MLB history, and Stephen Strasburg’s big day.
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
However, they lost four in a row for the first time in 2017, which has dropped their winning percentage below .700, and knocked them off the record pace for wins they’ve been flirting with for some time now. Rather than keeping up with the 2001 Mariners as the Dodgers have been doing for weeks, they’re now “just” on pace for 112 wins. Boring season, much?
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The Dodgers still have a shot at history. If they now turn around and win four games in a row, they’ll be on pace for 114 wins: it gets harder to make that number climb with each passing day since there are fewer than five weeks of games left, and every loss is an opportunity they won’t get back, but we’re also talking about a team that lost three games in July and is 17-9 in August despite dropping four in a row. If anyone is going to get back on track and back to haunting the 2001 Mariners, it’s these Dodgers. Especially now that they have Cody Bellinger back.
It helps that Clayton Kershaw is back on Friday, too: the Dodgers’ best (and league’s best) pitcher has been out since the end of July with a back injury, and with Alex Wood’s velocity drop and shoulder injury placing him on the disabled list as well, even the Dodgers are in a position where some reinforcements would be welcome. Will Kershaw be enough for Los Angeles to return to a 116-win pace? Maybe! Remember to come back tomorrow for more hard-hitting analysis.
- Stephen Strasburg not only threw a shutout against the Marlins on Wednesday: he also hit a home run, making him the 24th pitcher to combine the two since 1980.
- Strasburg’s homer has the Nationals thinking they’re cool now.
- If you want to read about actual feats of strength as they apply to dingers, then this bit on Joey Gallo potentially making some weird MLB history is for you.
- The Mariners traded for Mike Leake and the rest of his contract, and while they gave up a prospect, they also got a whole lot of cash and an international slot along with him.
- The biggest beneficiary of the Leake deal might be Luke Weaver, who now has a full-time rotation slot in St. Louis with Leake’s exit.
- Justin Upton has been connected to the Giants in trade rumors that don’t make a whole lot of sense.
- The Dodgers losing four in a row also means they won’t be one of the few Dodgers teams in history to avoid one such streak all season long.
- The Indians are getting Greg Allen to the majors before September callups in a surprise jump that has him coming from Double-A.
- The Orioles have brought post-game pies back, which obviously is why they’re succeeding now.
- Ryan Howard: still hitting big homers.
- This is a pretty good catch.
- Anthony Rizzo donated $3.5 million to a children’s hospital, and started to cry while relating his own cancer story.
- Scherzer and Werth and Turner are all back, but Bryce Harper is still a ways off for the Nationals.
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